The Lagos State Government’s Revenue House will be completely renovated by the end of next month, with the contractor putting the finishing touches on the majestic edifice located in Alausa, the seat of government.
On Monday, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu made a site inspection of the continuing renovations being done to the eight-story structure formerly known as Elephant House. He made the commitment that the facility will be fully functional by September.
The Governor was accompanied on the inspection by the deputy governor, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, and a few members of the Executive Council.
The Revenue House is a multi-department office building that is being constructed to house all of the State Government’s revenue-generating agencies under one roof.
The Lagos State Lottery and Gaming Authority, the Motor Vehicle Administration Agency (MVAA), and the Lagos State Signage and Advertisement Agency (LAASA), among other organisations, will share the remaining space in the complex with the Lagos Inland Revenue Service (LIRS), which will occupy a sizable portion of the building.
According to Sanwo-Olu, the idea of keeping the revenue agencies together is one that will increase both their individual and group capability for overall efficiency. The governor claimed that the building would provide one-stop shopping for people and businesses paying taxes to the government.
He said: “The importance of this Revenue House is that it houses the 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.
“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 faster we can finish this project.”
Sanwo-Olu acknowledged that the renovation process took a little longer than he had planned, but claimed that thorough renovation will extend the building’s useful life.
The Governor did, however, express satisfaction with the speed of the work, noting that a sizable portion of the furnishings needed for the building had been delivered before the renovation was finished.
Sanwo-Olu stated that the remaining tasks included general inside cleaning, painting the exterior, 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 their numbers,” the Governor said.
Sanwo-Olu also inspected the ongoing construction of a nine-story multi-agency facility in Alausa, which is being built in front of the State Government secretariat.