Group sues Lagos over Land Use Charge (Punch)

A coalition of citizens, under the aegis of The EIE Project Ltd./GTE, has dragged the Lagos State Government to court, seeking the reversal of some portions of the state’s Land Use Charge Law 2018.
Specifically, the plaintiff is praying the Lagos State High Court in Igbosere to strike down sections 3, 5 and 6 of the newly-passed LUC 2018, for being inconsistent with the 1999 Constitution.
Counsel for the plaintiff, Olumide Babalola, is contending that sections 3, 5 and 6 of the LUC 2018 are in conflict with the provisions of Section 7(5) and Item 1(j) of the Fourth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution.
He wants the court to declare those portions of the LUC 2018 null and void and to restrain the Lagos State Government from enforcing same.
Joined as respondents in the suit are the Lagos State Government; the state’s Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice; and the House of Assembly, Lagos State.
The plaintiff wants the court to declare that the Lagos State House of Assembly “lacks the powers to make or pass the Land Use Charge 2018, which contains provisions of the constitutionally exclusive functions of the local governments to asses, levy and collect tenement rates.”
The group prays the court to “strike out the provisions of sections 3, 5 and 6 of the Land Use Charge Law 2018 of Lagos State.”
They said they resorted to filing the suit after “several attempts to have this matter settled out of court with the respondents were unsuccessful.”
In an affidavit deposed to by one Seun Akinyemi, the group described itself as “an occupier at 8, Alhaji Murtala Street, Aturanse Estate, Gbagada, Lagos and it is subject to the provisions of the said Land Use Charge Law 2018 of Lagos State.”
The plaintiff said, “That I believe that sections 3, 5, 6, 10 and 14 are inconsistent with the provisions of Section 7(5) and Item 1(j) of the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended). Read more