Ondo State Internal Revenue Service, ODIRS said it has not issued rent Assessment/ Payment Advice for annual rent on government land in the State Forest Reserve for year 2023.
The agency has also cancelled all rent assessments and outstanding payments for 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 that have not been paid.
This is contained in a statement signed by the Executive Chairman of ODIRS, Tolu Adegbie which was sequel to the state government policy of withdrawing illegal farmers in the State Forest Reserves who pay rent of N10,000 per hectare annually.
The statement said the agency doesn’t have any staff in the forest collecting fee and directed that no consultant, enforcement team, Olus, Baales, company should collect any fees from any farmer on its behalf with immediate effect.
“Sequel to the recent Press Statement released by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation on the subject captioned “We Stand by Our Decision on Oluwa Forest Reserve”, the Ondo State Government has withdrawn the policy to temporarily accommodate farmers farming illegally in the State Forest Reserves by paying rent of Ten Thousand Naira per hectare annually.
In line with the government decision, the Ondo State Internal Revenue Service wishes to inform the general public that we have not issued any rent Assessment/Payment Advice for annual rent on government land in the State Forest Reserve for year 2023.
The rent assessments and outstanding payments for 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 issued and have not been paid are hereby cancelled.
Ondo State Internal Revenue Service does not have any staff in the Forest Reserves to collect rent on government land, therefore, no Consultant, enforcement team, Olu, Baale, company or anyone should collect any rent on any land in the State Government Forest Reserves. Anyone that demand for any rent on behalf of the State Government is an impostor and should be treated as such.
We wish to state clearly that no farmer should pay any rent on government land in the Forest Reserves into Ondo State Government account for any reason using the old assessments in their possession as no receipt will be processed for any farmer with regards to such payment.
The Ondo State Government has ceased to have any revenue relationship with any farmer cultivating illegally in the State Forest Reserves as regards rent on government land.”
