While speaking at the recent sensitization
workshop on 2017 Water Technology and
Environmental Control Exhibition and
Conference (WATEC), Lagos State Governor,
Akinwunmi Ambode, said out of a massive
population of 22million, only 600,000
Lagos residents are up to date in paying
their taxes, and that such was not helpful
to scale up provision of infrastructure and
other amenities for the people.
According to the governor, the government
has identified the need for residents to
adopt a willful approach to the payment of
taxes as a means of addressing
fundamental challenges confronting the
State and accelerating development in all
sectors and sections.
Responding to a suggestion from one of
the participants at the workshop that the
State Government should complete the
ongoing shoreline protection particularly in
the Lekki and Ajah axis as one of the ways
to mitigate the impact of torrential rainfalls
which caused flooding in the axis last
week, Governor Ambode said in as much as
government was willing to do such, it was
being inhibited by its limited resources.
He said: “Talking about protecting our
shoreline, I want to tell you something. The
ecological fund that someone talked about
does not exist because the previous
government, due to political consideration,
never gave Lagos anything and protecting
the shoreline runs into billions.
“Even doing those groins not to allow the
water to break cost a lot of money and
then with frozen taxes in the last eight to
ten years, there has not been any increase
in taxes unlike in the United Kingdom for
instance where any young person living
there knows that once you start working at
the age of 18, your civic obligation is that
you must pay tax but here nobody takes it
as their business that the new road I am
using I need to pay something and so they
only pay tax when they are inside the real
tax net that is you are paying pay as you
earn.
“That is the only way we can catch you and
so everybody takes it for granted that
government will do it and there is nothing
like government money, it is taxes that
people are paying that you are asking for
this shoreline protection, it is from the
taxes that you are asking for us to de-flood,
it is from the taxes that you are asking for
us to do the roads and all that.
“The number of people paying taxes in
Lagos is less than 600,000 people and we
are 22million and then 67 percent of the
people living in Lagos are below the age of
35 and even the retirees, how much are
they paying? They are on pension. So, you
have to go through your nose and you
want to be as compassionate as possible
that in a recession, you don’t overtax
people.”
According to him, it was time for a
convergence between civic obligations and
the ability of government to build trust by
using taxes of citizens judiciously, just
assured that his administration, within the
available resources, would continue to
invest in infrastructure and deliver good
governance to make life comfortable and
easier for the people.
“What I am saying is that there must be a
convergence between civic obligations and
the ability of government to build trust and
be able to tell people that you know what,
the little that you are giving me, I will use it
judiciously. When I use it judiciously and
you see it overtime, trust me, if you pay
more, I will do more.
“Obviously, the vision is there, the plan is
there but again it is not driven by anything
than the citizens themselves and the area
that we need improvement is for citizens to
have trust or confidence that the taxes they
are paying will be returned back in terms of
infrastructure but I can tell you that I am
also concerned; I see a lot of things I don’t
like but I am inhibited by the amount of
money I have,” Governor Ambode said.
