All revenue-generating agencies of the Lagos government will begin operations under one roof, as the state’s Revenue House located within the Alausa Central Business District will be ready for occupation from September, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said.
Sanwo-Olu announced this on Monday during an on-the-site inspection of the ongoing renovation work at the eight-storey building formerly known as Elephant House.
Bringing the revenue-generating agencies to operate from the multi-department office complex is expected to strengthen their synergy, coordination and efficiency in service delivery to the public.
Lagos Inland Revenue Service (LIRS) which is still operating from a rented building will occupy substantial space in the Revenue House, while other agencies, including Lagos State Lottery and Gaming Authority, Motor Vehicle Administration Agency (MVAA) and Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LAASA) among others will share the rest of the space in the complex.
According to Sanwo-Olu, the edifice would offer one-stop-shop revenue services for individuals and organisations paying taxes to the government.
“The importance of this Revenue House is that it houses a significant number of our core revenue-generating agencies, with LIRS being the major occupant of the edifice. The whole idea of putting them in one office complex is for them to share facilities together and improve on their individual capacity.
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“More importantly, the single-office complex will offer our citizens and organisations a one-stop shop to come in and complete a lot of statutory transactions in this building, which include licence renewal, issues about vehicles, tenement rate, land assessment and general land administration. This is why I am interested to see how fast we can finish this project.”
Sanwo-Olu noted that the renovation work was a bit longer than he had anticipated, but added stressed a comprehensive renovation would make the usage of the building last longer.
He, however, expressed satisfaction at the quality of work, adding that a significant number of furniture required in the edifice had been supplied ahead of the completion of the work.
What’s left to be done, Sanwo-Olu said, include general cleaning of the interior, exterior painting and fixing the electrical sources.
“By the end of next month, the contractor said the work would be completely done. We will wait patiently by the end of next month, which we hope staff of the agencies would be moving in,” the governor said.
Sanwo-Olu also inspected the ongoing construction of a nine-floor multi-agency building being developed in front of the state government secretariat in Alausa.
