Lagos — Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) of Lagos State yesterday cleared the air on the misrepresentations in the purported imposition of tax on religious organisations in the state, saying there is no intention by the state government to tax churches in the state.

Fashola, who made the clarification while fielding questions from newsmen at a World Press Conference to mark his second year in office at the Banquet Hall of the Lagos House, explained that the state government only sought obedience to an already existing federal law that religious leaders should pay tax from the personal income they earn from their activities.

"The point here is that religious leaders are not different from you or me. If they earn income from that activity, it is only proper that they remit to the commonwealth, to the common pool and to the common developmental resources from which they benefit."

Explaining further, the governor said: "They use the roads, their children use the schools, their wives use the markets, they use water, they enjoy the benefits of the security that we provide," adding that people should not get emotional about the issue.

Acknowledging that the constitution exempted the churches from taxation, the governor pointed out that the courts have ruled at a time that if a church has property which it rents out and from which it earns income, it should pay tax from such earning, adding that "I also want to make the point clearly, we did not make the law. It is a Federal Government law."

But it is a law that we are empowered to implement just like the Income Tax Law."

Debunking the allegation that the plan was targeted at a particular religion, Governor Fashola declared, "I cannot even successfully do it. Here I am, a Muslim, my father is a Muslim, my mother is Anglican, my wife is Catholic and my siblings are of the Pentecostal faith", adding that the issue must be separated from sentiment and emotion. Advising any aggrieved person to seek redress formally through the courts, Governor Fashola, however, advised the agencies of Government responsible for implementing the law to be civil and humane. "We will not always be in the places when the law is being implemented. We urge our officers to act in the most civil and humane manner to ensure that people comply", he advised. The Governor reiterated his position on the proposed amendment of the Land Use Act, saying though he is not opposed to Land Reforms , he does not support the proposal to amend the Act.

Urging the reform of the administrative practices instead of repealing the Act, Governor Fashola stressed that practices associated with the Act such as Registration of Title Law have nothing to do with the Act itself, adding, "It was not fixed by the Land Use Act. It is a law that existed before the Land Use Act".

Pointing out that there was nothing wrong with paying fees for registration of title on land, Governor Fashola said, "If you can pay the CSCS fee for security of your share, it is the same as paying the Registration of Title fee to the Land Registrar who secures your title" "But, I must say, it is an issue that we will continue to engage. We are not saying that all is well. The message there is that we are not convinced that this is the solution, and until we explore an alternative solution, like creating long-term funding, to look at the cost of cement, the cost of iron rod and all of those things, we really may be courting crisis", he said.

The Governor also reiterated his position on the issue of State Police saying, "It is no longer a question of if but a question of when". According to the Governor, "We cannot continue to implement policies that history and experience have shown that it is not efficient and refuse to change it and expect it to work".

Citing the developments in other jurisdictions of the world, Governor Fashola pointed out that even those who wrote the Constitution of the country, at the time they were writing it recognized that there was need for State laws by creating such laws and queried why they did not see the need to create the police for the states to enforce their own laws.

"And that is how it is happening everywhere. They even have police at the local government levels . They have responsibilities. And therefore, we must start now to do what is right. We must not continue to dig in a hole, we must start coming out. We must begin to dare. We must begin to try new things", the Governor urged, saying it would not benefit the country to continue to insist on a policy that would not move it forward.

On the joint military police patrol in the State, Governor Fashola who acknowledged that the military has the Constitutional responsibility to protect the nation from internal and external aggression, pointed out that the military also assist in areas of violent crime.

"You don't ask soldiers to go to police stations", the Governor said pointing out that the idea of a joint patrol only arose out of the need to combat a violent crime situation in the State. "It has been a useful partnership and we will continue to make the best of it", he said. He said it is not true that small and medium scale industries in the State are packing up because of lack of constant power supply, pointing out that the State's Skill Acquisition Programme has boosted rather than weakened the sector. The Governor, however, acknowledged that the problem of power supply would reduce the operational power of the industries and increase their operational cost, but said using the services provided by the State, the goods they produce would become cheaper and cost effective in the local and even in the export market.