THE commencement of collection of levies for cars parked outside the perimeter fences of companies by the Lagos State government has continued to cause uneasiness among residents and particularly in the business community.
A notice on parking permits and demand signed by the General Manager of the Lagos State Parking Authority (LASPA), Adebisi Adelabu, indicated that the state government had begun the implementation of charges for parking spaces in the state.
A setback is a minimum distance from a property line to which a building must be set back from a street or road, among others.
In a letter dated August 15, 2022 and sent by LASPA to a food and snack company, according to media reports, the agency charged the company N290,000 for parking lots on setbacks.
According to the letter, the agency charged N80,000 per annum on three parking slots for off-street with N50,000 as nonrefundable administrative processing fee.
The letter reads: “The Lagos State Parking Authority, established under the law to consolidate all that relating to parking and its connected purposes with powers and functions, clearly states that the Authority shall, among others, be responsible for all forms of managed parking in the state.
“In view of the above, and in line with the administration’s policy in moving Lagos State towards a 21st-century economy to align with the first pillar of THEME’S Agenda of which transportation is key, your organisation is hereby served this demand notice for the setback parking (off-Street) in front of your premises before the commencement of enforcement action.
“Based on the inspection, we identified three (3) parking slots on your setback at the rate of N80,000 per slot per annum totalling N240,000.00 (two hundred and forty thousand naira) only.
“Also, a non-refundable administrative/processing fee of N50,000 (fifty thousand naira) only applies based on your location totalling N290,000.00 (two hundred and ninety thousand naira) only payable for the year 2022 to be paid into Lagos State Parking Authority account within a period of seven (7) days of receiving this letter.”
Reactions have continued to trail the recent roll out of different financial obligations that anyone living in Lagos will henceforth be subjected to as a way of tackling indiscriminate parking by vehicle owners.
Newly-created LASPA had, in announcing plans to tackle indiscriminate parking by vehicle owners on the streets, listed various parking violations and offences in the state.
It described parking problems as one of the thorniest issues affecting the economy and the environment, saying called for a holistic approach towards regulating the cause and effects. The state government had listed parking offences to include: parking of commercial vehicles on streets, blocking an entrance or exit and walkway, parking on slots marked for public transport, fire service, ambulance, taxis and people with special needs.
Also listed in the new rules are parking of vehicles on sidewalks, road median, whether paved or not, and parking of vehicles within three meters of a fire hydrant as well as parking of vehicles against the directional flow of traffic are now prohibited in the state.
Even the new law does not exempt landlords who, according to the state government, will be liable for parking indiscriminately in front of their houses.
The latest regulations have elicited reactions from Lagosians with many accusing the government of insensitivity.
Lagosians speak
Speaking to Saturday Tribune, a trade unionist, Mr Olayinka Abioye, said the government’s policy was dangerous coming at a time the state, like other parts of the country, is preparing for another general election.
Abioye said: “When I read about this shocking development last week, I laughed out loud that a government that is going into an election must be very careful in order not to foul the already stenched environment. No matter the good intentions thereof, this is not the appropriate time to roll out this law.
“However, I am aware that the government usually engages the people and stakeholders before assenting to policies dished out or suggested by consultants whose only intention is to get their own percentage of whatever accrue from such ventures.
“Did this government carry Lagosians along? What was the response of the people, especially home/house owners? What about landlords who do not have cars but whose tenants have vehicles? How many public parks have the government built in any of our communities where vehicle owners can park their vehicles, which will somehow generate revenue for the government and create job opportunities for those who manage such enterprise?
“Who will execute the law? Some of us provided/built the street/community roads where government wants to control now by taxing our vehicles. How so? It is unwholesome at this point when an average Lagosian is wallowing in abject poverty given global recession.
“Businesses are collapsing at every corner of every community. Jobs are being lost on a daily basis.
“Insecurity has become the order of the day as no one sleeps these days with his or her eyes fully closed and yet this policy is the immediate gift the government is dashing us?
“It is quite reprehensible that a government that is constructing roads all round the city is on the other hand trying to control parking whereas it has failed woefully to provide alternatives. It is so sad that a progressive government such as the Lagos State government will bow to the dictates of some dubious and irresponsible friends to burden people with this ridiculous policy.
“We wait to see how it pans out but if our society remains what it used to be, I look forward to seeing some concerned lawyers going to court to sue the government since this policy is anti-people; anti-landlords, anti-vehicle owners and must be withdrawn immediately.”
Also, a security expert who lives in Lagos but craved anonymity wondered why of all the challenges confronting Lagos residents like poor roads, waste-infested environment, what caught the attention of the government was somebody who chose to park in front of the house he laboured to build.
He said: “Who approved the building plan for the same house that has now become and is it a sin for the owner to park in front of his or her house?” He described the new policy as unfortunate.
Professionals’ views
The president of the Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria (ATOPCON), Muyiwa Adelu, said that parking zones should be maintained.
However, he explained that collecting fees for every available space is not the answer to traffic reduction in the metropolis.
“It is, in fact, going to cause more problems for the suffering public. The way the state government is going about raising money from everywhere will not help the public.
“Government should stay in his boundary of collecting necessary statutory taxes and levies,” Adelu said.
He argued that car parks and statutory setbacks should be maintained by the local governments in their areas.
According to him, it is absurd that state governments in Nigeria have taken over all constitutional roles of local governments.
“That is why it will be difficult to achieve any meaningful development by the local government areas,” he said and advised the state government to jettison the idea and allow the local governments to act where necessary.
A former president of the Nigerian Institute of Building, Mr Chucks Omeife, urged the state government to be careful in their search for revenue and look at the implications of their action on the people they are supposed to be serving.
Omeife said: “The people have always been at the receiving end despite the general downturn in the economy of the country; more weight is being put on the shoulders of the people in the name of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).
“I overheard Lawyer Femi Falana discussing the illegality of the action of the government on this matter and he has threatened to go to court to address the matter. This, I think, is very good development as citizens feel helpless in the face of this law which is draconian in all respects.
“The new parking law is not reasonable; it shows government’s impunity which has turned a tradition against the people. There is no relationship between this new parking law and traffic congestion within the Lagos metropolis.
“The government needs to think critically and come up with options that will be a win-win situation for both the government and the people.”
He called on the government to stop the implementation of the law and go back to the drawing board for a more friendly solution if the issue was to solve the traffic jam within the metropolis.
If the law was meant for revenue generation, he enjoined the government to go about its plan in another creative way that the people would embrace.
“The government must come out clearly on what their intention is as per this new parking law,” he said.
The Managing Director, MOA Planners Limited, Mr Moses Ogunleye, said the policy had no relationship with traffic jam.
“If part of the objectives of the policy is to reduce traffic jam, then that is not the way to go. It looks like the central goal of the idea is revenue generation. It is odd that one has to pay to government to park in such spaces,” he said.
Ogunleye noted that although such spaces were for public use, they were not planned for car park.
“That portion of the right-of-ways is for usage like road expansion, walkway, planting/landscaping and provision of infrastructures like sewer and water mains, power lines, urban furniture, etc,” he said.
He said: “What happens if one pays for a space in January and the same government commences road expansion or upgrade in March of the same year? I had thought the innovation would be to declare some lanes on streets in the Central Business Districts or major commercial areas as parking zone.
“The parking can even be time or hourly based. Vehicle owners will be issued vouchers to pay for the hours or duration of parking.”
Managing Director, Centurion Security Services, Group Captain John Ojikutu (rtd), said the state government should have given serious thought to the making of the law before its proclamation.
“First, what was the law that approved a standard plot in Lagos to build four or six flats for middle-class citizens and made no provisions for car parks within the plot?
“What are the standard widths of the urban and intra city roads for low, medium and high density areas of the state where these buildings with government approved plans are located?
“I doubt if there are any considerations for most of these in the medium and high density areas, especially when there are not even pedestrian walkways in these areas,” he said.
He stated that the state authorities responsible for approving building plans and environmental developments of these areas took no cognizance of these details for car parking as necessary for the inhabitants before approving the building plans.
“What are the alternatives provided for these areas which the inhabitants must use but which they are not using is what the law should address. Laws are made before the Acts and not after the Acts.
“This law is punitive and not corrective. I want to believe that the human rights lawyers like Femi Falanas and the Onagoruwa are waiting to see the details that would make them call the state government to order,” he said.
Ojikutu urged the state government to do away with misguided laws in its mandate to serve the people.
Lagos Island Central Business District
At the Lagos Island where the popular Lagos markets, Idumota, Balogun, Tom Jones, among others, are located, car parking issue has always been a big business as many shop owners, offices, shoppers always pay considerable amounts of money to secure parking spaces by the sides of the busy roads, abandoned compounds, public and private car lots, among others.
For some, it is a livelihood that does not discriminate against sex, race, statue or age.
At the Island, the business of car parking has always been a booming one. To park a vehicle by the roadside for as short as 10 minutes, a minimum of N500 is paid while the price ranges from N800 to N1,500 at private car lots.
For an elderly woman at a street close to Tinubu Square, ensuring the safety of cars parked along the street has been her sole business for more than seven years. Alhaja, as she is popularly called, told Saturday Tribune that the new law could not stand.
According to her, she has been assisting in ensuring that no vehicle is parked to obstruct traffic.
“We don’t block roads here to park cars, so why would the government tax us with the excuse that we block free flow of traffic,” she said.
She said this was the only business she relied on to feed herself and her grandchildren. According to her, she makes an average of N10,000 in a day.
Along Marina Road on Lagos Island, there are more than 20 car packs, about 10 of which are owned by financial institutions. Virtually all the car parks have been served with the LASPA notice since about two weeks ago.
At one of the private car parks, a security official informed Saturday Tribune that the notice had not stopped them from their duty as no action had been taken so far as regards the directive.
He noted that the owner of the car park he secures removed the notice himself and he doubt if any amount of money was paid to the government before it was removed.
Another official securing one of the parks owned by a bank explained that no action had been taken so far by the institution to pay the said levy.
He noted that under normal circumstances, the bank should not be required to pay any amount of money, as the property is theirs and they were given approval by the government to own the property and to run it as a car park for their staff members.
One Tijani, another roadside car park agent told Saturday Tribune that even if the law was enforced at every other area in Lagos, it would never work on the Island as a commercial environment.
“Do they want people to carry their vehicles on their heads? We are only helping the government to ensure the safety of vehicles. This should have been the primary work of government but they failed. So, why should we be penalised for helping people to ensure that their cars are safe while they do their shopping,” he said.
We’re already burdened with levies –Auto dealers
Auto dealers in the state have lamented the new policy by the state government, stating that it would adversely affect the cost of their operation and translate to higher cost of vehicles in the state.
The auto dealers stated that already, they make annual payments to the state government while some of them still paid local governments for displaying their vehicles. They said any additional payment to the government by auto dealers would be “insensitive.”
A dealer who identified himself simply as Adeosun, in an interview with Saturday Tribune said: “We have heard about the new levy by the government but we are yet to know if we are included.
“It will be very insensitive for the government to add any levy to what we pay already. Every year, I pay N50,000 to the state government in Alausa. Apart from that, some of us still pay to the local government.
“Those who will be most affected are those without car marts. Even some of us that have car marts still display their vehicles in front of their fence.”
Another auto dealer who pleaded for anonymity while speaking with Saturday Tribune said: “It appears that the government wants us to abandon our businesses. How can they expect us to pay further levies?
“Already, the Federal Government has forced some of our members to stay away from this business with their obnoxious policy. Now the Lagos State government is coming out with another one.
“Already, out members pay multiple levies to different government agencies, from the port to out-offices. We pay for parking our vehicles in our premises already.”
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