Abia State Tenement And Ground Rent In Retroactive Order, An Anti-People’s Policy.
Monday (Afor) 11-08-2025.
In the Law of Social Contract, as propounded by Genevan Philosopher, Writer and Composer, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose Political Philosophy had remarkable influence on the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, in 1762, Citizens should subordinate themselves to Laws made by the State but on one condition, the General Willl of the People, which should not be distant from Moral Virtues.
The Principle of General Will has remained inseparable in making Laws for Public Good. It is in adherence to that Principle that Legislative Houses conduct Public Hearings before Laws that directly touch the Public are made. The General Will is a critical vital element in making Laws that affect the Public.
Last week in Abia State, the State Government started pasting what it captioned ‘Consolidated Demand Notice’ on the gates of premises in urban areas of the State. According to the notice, Property Rate (tenement and land use charge) for bungalows, as sited by Equity Global Reporters, is as follows: A; (1) 2022, N5,040, (2) 2023, N5,544, (3) 2024, N6,098.4, (4) 2025, N6,708.4, while Ground Rent is: B, (1) 2022, N50,000, (2) 2023, N50,000, (3) 2024, N50,000, and (4) 2025, N50,000, giving a grand total of N233,390.8.
Ordinarily-speaking, no one would raise an eyebrow over Abia State Government Tax Policy but when it is considered that the ‘Consolidated Demand Notice’ does not in any way reflect the General Will of the People, the Policy becomes suspect, especially now that the People are facing economic hard times.
For such a draconian Tax Policy to have been enacted, there should have been a Public Hearing which should have given an opportunity to Owners of Houses to make their input. Equity Global Reporters Ltd could not establish if such a Public Hearing ever took place in Abia State.
Another aspect of the State Tax Policy that worries both Owners of Property, and Tenants, as Tenants will bear the final financial burden, is the retroactive clause of the said ‘Consolidated Demand Notice’. Why should Property Owners be demanded to pay taxes in arrears? It is the duty of the State Government to recover her taxes or rents per year, and not waiting to allow the taxes to accumulate for years as to become a load of burden to Citizens. This retroactive approach is obviously against the intendment of General Will.
At a time Abia State Government unprecedentedly receives a monthly allocation that is up to N38 Billion due to the uncommon vision and generosity of the President Tinubu Administration that thoughtfully and boldly removed the corrupt fuel subsidy regime, it is sheer wickedness for Abia State Government to mount this huge financial burden on her Citizens. To add salt to injury, the Abia State Government has continously withheld and diverted monthly allocations meant for the Local Government Councils in the State, from the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee, FAAC, to the very inimical extent that no development takes place in Abia grassroots. Despite the fact that the Tinubu Administration successfully went to the Supreme Court, demanding that State Governors should allow Local Government Councils to have access to their statutory financial allocations and manage them according to the peculiar needs of their People, Abia State Government has heartlessly ceaselessly laid a devastating siege on Abia Local Government Funds, including taking over their major revenue windows.
Equity Global Reporters Ltd would wish to urge Abia State Government to reconsider this ‘Consolidated Demand Notice’ which is obviously obnoxious, and give it a human face. The ‘Consolidated Demand Notice’ should focus on 2025, and not in retrospect, as doing otherwise renders it an Anti- People’s Policy.
Sir Don Ubani; KSC, JP
Publisher, Equity Global Reporters Ltd.
