Maduka Nweke
Nigerians who see the Land Use Charge (LUC) introduced by Lagos State government as ploy to increase their suffering have risen to discredit the state’s rent-to-own policy, saying won’t change anything.
One of those who spoke to Daily Sun, Mr. Adeboye Edun, said that even after owning the house, the LUC, the tenement rate, plus all other charges introduced by this current government will make nonsense of the policy as they will use it to increase the authentic number of landlords in their list.
Another respondent, Mrs. Tigerus Ananias, a dealer in hospital equipment, said the Lagos State government is thinking that people are accepting all the policies it is introducing. She said these policies are introduced without human face.
According to her, those introducing these laws behave as if they have never been in the street to see how people are suffering. “This is why many times people who are positively affected try to commit suicide in the bid to thrust government laws down the throats of fellow citizens.
Government should stop being hypocritical in policies. Since the LUC denies a lot of people the opportunity to own their own homes, government should scrap it if it is doing the people favour,” she stated.
Last week, Lagos State government presented keys to 150 new homeowners under the Rent-to-Own Policy, thereby increasing the total number of housing units already allocated to Lagosians under the scheme to 650.
Speaking at the hand-over ceremony to the fourth set of allottees of the Rent-to-Own Housing Scheme, the state Commissioner for Housing, Prince Gbolahan Lawal, explained that the state government was not just providing accommodation but using the various housing schemes as major means of economic empowerment for residents of the state, especially young people.
According to him, the scheme is aimed at ensuring that all Lagos residents, irrespective of status, income and affiliation, have access to decent and affordable housing in order to improve their quality of life. He said, “under this policy, all that prospective homeowners need do is make a 5 per cent commitment fee, take possession and pay up the remaining balance towards the ownership of the property over a period of 10 years.”
The commissioner informed that a larger number of Lagosians who could not hitherto boast of being homeowners are now proud beneficiaries of housing units under the Rent-to-Own scheme. Lawal stated that apart from the Rent-to-Own policy, the state government has also designed some other innovative means of addressing the housing deficit across the state.