LAMATA, CITN advocate effective civic responsibility in Lagos

AS part of efforts to create an hitch-free environment and the proper usage of the Ikorodu newly motorway expansion, the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) Ikorodu district, in collaboration with the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, LAMATA have commenced a campaign to create awareness on the use of the expanded motorway by residence of Ikorodu.

Similarly, the bodies are partnering on creating awareness on tax payment in the state.

Speaking during a courtesy visit to LAMATA, the Institute, led by the Chairman of the district, Abimbola Olumegbon said the two entities are partners in progress especially in the area of improving tax awareness and judicious usage of taxes collected, adding that in order to improve revenue generation, all efforts should be made to continuously mitigate the problems of tax evasion, tax avoidance, untimely remittance and voluntary compliance to relevant tax authorities.

“We appreciate the transformation of the major road leading into the emerging city of Ikorodu. Hopefully,the road network will reduce traffic congestion into Ikorodu with proper monitoring of the road usage,enforcing traffic laws and providing enough buses.

“In the wake of high incidence of boat mishaps, taxpayers will appreciate a collaboration between your organisation and Lagos State Water Authority (LASWA) to foster hydro transportation by providing safe and efficient boats with state of the art rescue equipment. The Change we were waiting for has come”.

Since the inception of the project, LAMATA has acquired the role of an operator as LAMATA has to provide maintenance for the road pavements and for the rail tracks, establishing the road maintenance and rail-track maintenance, while CITN informs Ikorodu residence on better ways to pay their taxes.

The External Relation Specialists, LAMATA, Kolawole Ojelabi, was of the view that CITN’s responsibilities is saddled with imploring the residence of Ikorodu on how well the project will assist them in their daily activities and how the government is making sure that Ikorodu becomes a traffic-free axis.

“The operator currently has about 230 buses available for the service which should have about 400 buses, and operations are expected to commence soon because as we speak, buses are already on ground, but there are pre-occupational processes we need to undergo so that things will be put in place before we kick off operation”, he said.

The project according to Ojelabi is currently being implemented from mile 12 to Ikorodu, efforts are on top gear to wrap up the project so as to start plying the routes.

“The institution will definitely bridge the gap between the people and LAMATA operations. “People will know how it will benefit them and CITN will be able to explain to the Ikorodu residence to support the government by paying their taxes. At the dedicated bus lanes on Ikorodu Road, there are currently places which the bus drivers avoid or in the alternative the buses are brought almost to a complete stop as the deterioration of the road pavement has made passage through those places unsafe”, Ojelabi added.