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FCT residents and the Tenement Rate bills
By Nkiru Zikora
There is a great outcry by the residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja over exorbitant and excessive tenement rate being levied on them. Besides the exorbitant value of the tenement rate, residents living in newly developed estates also complain of being levied tenement rates in arrears for periods that the properties were under development or unoccupied.
Tenement rate is a tax imposed on developed and occupied properties within a local government jurisdiction by the Local Government Authority or as is the case of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the Area Council Authority. The powers of local government/area council authority to assess, levy and collect tenement rate on properties within their jurisdiction is derived in pursuant to the provisions of Section 7 and the 4thSchedule to the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; and Taxes and Levies (Approved List of Collection) Act No. 21 of 1998. Tenement rates are levied only on developed and occupied properties. Undeveloped and or unoccupied properties cannot and must not be levied.
A quick view of FCT’s Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) Tenement Rate Collection Bye-Law (No. 22) 2012 as amended gazetted in 2019 reveals the establishment of a valuation office which shall be under the supervision of the Local Government Revenue Committee to carry out the assessment of all rateable properties within the area council [Section 1(1)].
Section 1(4) states that valuation office shall consist of a Head of Valuation and such number of staff necessary to assist the head of valuation. Further, section 3 stipulates the appointment of a qualified Estate Surveyor and Valuer registered with the Estate Surveyor and Valuers Registration Board to work under the control and supervision of the Head of valuation to assess the rateable properties.
While Section 4 requires the appraiser to gather all the information orally or written as the case maybe and which may affect the assessed value of a tenement. This is to enable him to give a proper assessment of the property. The Tenement Rate Bye-Law for Bwari Area Council revealed that it is about the same with that of AMAC. So both the AMAC and Bwari Area Council’s tenement rates are provided to be at uniform rate of 4k per Nairage of the calculated assessed value (annual value).
The tenement rate is usually levied and paid annually by the property occupant and the amount payable each year is to be assessed based on the annual value of the subject property. The tug of war however still rage between the landlord and the tenant concerning whose responsibility it is to pay the tenement rates.
As stated already, the law provides that it is the responsibility of the occupier of the property to pay tenement rate and other rates, bills or charges on a rented or leased property. To avoid any conflict arising from the usual debate about whose responsibility tenement rate payments fall, it is advisable to spell this out in the tenancy agreement. This helps bring clarity from the beginning of the tenancy relationship between the Landlord and tenant on who is responsible to pay tenement and other rates. However, in the event where such provisions are not clearly stated in the tenancy agreement, by operation of the law, the occupier of the property, usually the tenant bears the primary liability to pay the tenement rate whether the provision is specified in the tenancy agreement or not.
No doubt, the Local Government/Area Council Authorities have the right by law to assess, levy and collect tenement rate on developed and occupied properties within their areas of jurisdiction. However, there is need for the FCT local authorities to continue to create awareness about the legality of tenement rates.
They should equally endeavour to address the strident outcry about what these residents consider as arbitrary and excessive rates imposed on their properties especially in the light of the current harsh economic climate. Occupiers of property continue to insist that their properties were not assessed given that they were never visited by the rating agents to secure necessary information needed for the computation of their property rateable value.
Though the imposition of taxes or rates on the populace especially property taxes may seem a very attractive way through which the government raises revenue, it must be carefully handled to avoid impoverishing the more the already poor masses. There is the urgent need therefore for the FCT Area Councils to consider the dire economic situation in Nigeria presently and ensure that the tenement rates are judiciously assessed and computed as is stipulated in the law.
Zikora, an Estate Surveyor and Valuer, writes from Abuja.
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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