ABSTRACT

The ground rent has of course become an established part of modern leasing practice, but is only as recently as the as the 1950’s that landowners were granted leases at a fixed rents by the government without review. Land is a free gift of nature and no action of man bought land into existence that is why it is very necessary for man to pay rent for the use of such property. Government encourages ground rent in order to invest the money into the development of the society as well as to checkmate the use of land. There importance of ground rent to the government can never be over emphasized. In order to achieve the set target. This project was divided into five chapters. Also the researcher came up with some objectives that will help to achieve the set goal often which conclusion will be reached as well as made usefully recommendations            

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

In the mid-nineteeth century came the development of many residential estates, built by developers holding on ground rent of ninety-nine years. Although ground rent had been in use before, it was at this time that their use became indespread. These agreement placed total responsibility for development and development.

The ground rent has, of course, become an established part of modern leasing practice, but it is only as recently as recently as the 1950’s that landowners were granted leases at a fixed rentsby the government without review.

The term groun rent can be seen or described as a rent paid by the owner of a land to the government for the use of the land. A ground rent whether it contains review or not, represent possibly the ultimate practice method for the government to adopt when requires capital injection.

Land is free gift of nature, and no action of man brought land into existence that is why it is very necessary for man to pay rent for the use of such property. Government encourages ground rent in order to invest the money into the development of the society as well as to checkmate the use of land.

Howevere here in Enugu state the ministry of lands were charged with the responsibility of assessment, reviewing, imposing and collection of ground rent in the state in order to encourage further development as well as to check and control the use of land.

It is with a deep regret, that the administration of the ground rent have not been able to live is immovable, and the imposing and collection of the rent is not expected to be difficult.

It is as a result of this that the researcher seek to examine the problems and prospects of the administration of ground rent is Enugu state with a view of providing solution to the problem when identified.

In essence, ground rent is a fee charged on landed property by the government, at least going by the law which stipulates that the government is the chief owner of land in Nigeria.

Recently, the Plateau State Commissioner of Lands and Survey, Architect Yilji Gomwalk announced that the state government will begin the collection of ground rents from land owners as from July 2013. He said that the efforts are part of government’s effort to improve its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

Gomwalk was optimistic that the Jang administration in Plateau State through the Ministry started the enumeration of all landed property in the state in order to facilitate easy collection of such rents from land owners.

Before now, the state government was not collecting ground rents due to what the Lands and Survey Commissioner attributed as poor data base to ascertain who and who had what and the numerical population of houses within the greater Jos Master Plan.

By implication however, the ground rents will be paid according to the number of the Certificate of Occupancy (C of Os) that has been issued by the state government. Apart from enabling the Plateau State Government keep tabs on the number of property within the Greater Jos Master Plan, the ground rents when collected, will jerk up the IGR that will in turn be channeled into infrastructural development of the state.

Plateau State appears to be one of the states in the federation that is implementing this policy belatedly, as it were. Long before now states like Nasarawa, Delta, Kano to mention but three, had realized the need for charges to be remitted to their respective state governments annually. In Delta State for instance, land owners with title are required by law to come forward and pay their ground rents on the first week of January every other year.

Statement of problem

Today in plateau state ground rent is a compulsory levy imposed on landlords or land owners  upon his property by the government to provide security social amenities in order to create condition for economic well being of the society and its citizenry. This system has been considered to mean the process of taxation land owners involving sets of rules, regulations and procedures with the organs of administrations interacting with one another to generate fund for government.

Be that as it may, it appears the situation is centrally when view from the practical implementation especially as it concerns the area under investigation.  The major problems being sought out in this study include, authorities in  plateau state and Nigeria at large lack the desired institutional capacity to administer such ground rent tax system effectively. 

Since there is a gap between what is supposed to be and what is actually on the ground it become impossible, for smoothly collection of tax by Benue state internal revenue service.  Because tax payer need to know not only the tax but loud the board is governed to interface with their economic and social living.  The magnitude of the doubt raised above implies some underlying problems and this is the inspiration of the research.

Objectives of the Study

The general objective of the study is to find out problem of ground rent administration in plateau state, with a view to proferring solutions and strategies through which they could be put to a stop. The specific objectives of the study therefore include:

i.      To establish whether lack of compliance by land owners cause of low       rate of returns from ground rent.

ii.      To find out whether lack of staff training is the cause of poor administration of ground rent.

iii.     To ascertain if ground rent  administration will be more efficient       when separated from the civil service.

Research questions

i.                                Is lack compliance by lacnd owners a cause of low rate of returns from ground rent?

ii.                              Does  poor staff training cause of poor administration of ground rent?

iii.                            Will  ground rent  administration be more efficient when separated from the civil service?

Significance of the study

The importance of this research cannot be overemphasized because of its immense significance to different groups of people who are in need of information that it will provide. Its significance includes the following:

The study will enable the management of land and provide an in-depth understanding and knowledge of the ground rent administrative strategies available so that they can adopt them adequately.

The study will also serve as a source of secondary data for students and scholars who intend to carry out similar studies in the future.

Scope of the Study

The scope of this study in terms of its content is restricted to the problem and prospects of ground rent administration in plateau state.

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