Contrary to erroneous claims by some individuals, the Lagos State government has said refuted false alarms over parking levy by its Agency, the Lagos State Parking Authority (LASPA), saying that the development was designed to eliminate indiscriminate levy collections. 

The Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Frederick Oladeinde, at a press briefing on the activities of the newly created agency, LASPA, in Alausa, Ikeja, on Wednesday, said against “the erroneous claims of certain individuals and groups, LASPA has the power by law to collect park levies.”

“As it is usually the case, especially in a political season, political jobbers and people with limited knowledge on the constitutional mandates of LASPA have tried fruitlessly to exaggerate the issue by playing to the gallery,” he said.

Oladeinde, while describing the Agency as “a one-stop authority, providing solutions to parking challenges across the state,” said the idea that informed the creation of the Agency was to put an end to impediments arising from indiscriminate parking and collection of levies.

Highlighting the mandates of LASPA, the Transport Commissioner said: “LASPA was created to find lasting solutions to the issues of indiscriminate and illegal parking across the state.”

This, according to him, “will aid prompt reduction of traffic gridlock experienced by residents of the state.

“The agency was established, among others, to promote parking policies tailored to suit the peculiarity of the state in line with modern international standards towards achieving a Smart City,” he added.

Recall that a post had recently gone viral on social media, stating that LASPA issued a letter signed by its General Manager, levying a Lekki-based company a total sum of N290,000 for the parking lot outside their premises.

According to Oladeinde, the Agency was also empowered to remove all “impediments arising from indiscriminate parking on carriage-ways, thereby increasing the carriageway capacity on the roads, improving the flow of traffic and reducing travel time.”

The Commissioner said the Agency has the “mandate to charge fees on private commercial parks, non-commercial parks, among other parking lots on any facility provided by the Authority.”

He argued that against the exorbitant cost commuters bear on stopovers with the usage of commercial parks, LASPA levy was low and considerate.

“Let me emphasize that most private commercial parks charge the Lagosians between N500 to N1,000 parking dues per hour and each person parking at these respective parks can have four stop-overs, which sums up to N2,000 or N4,000 daily. 

“At the end of the year, the commercial park owner will realize over N182,500 or N365,000 if a charge is per hour or gain a total N730,000 or N1,460,000 for 4 stopovers. This is the price most Lagos residents pay to commercial park owners.

“LASPA levy of N80,000 divided by the number of days in a year results to N219 only against the above charges of commercial park owners. 

“The difference is clear as the government is quite considerate and responsive in making the environment conducive for all,” Oladeinde noted.

He mentioned that as “a government that respects the Constitution as the sole source of its engagement with the public, the state government will never resort to any unconstitutional means in its dealing with the people.”

Oladeinde, who urged Lagos residents to cooperate with the agency and other similar stakeholders in carrying out “its laudable mandate,” implored interested and concerned members of the public to visit the Agency’s office for necessary information and assistance. 

Also at the event, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotoso, said the claims that the government was to levy people for parking in their private residence was false.

“It is not true; it is an attempt to malign the government by mischievous people. We are not surprised to see things like this because we are in the season of politics. When it comes to this kind of matter, everybody seems to be an expert, everybody seems to be a lawyer,” he said. 

The General Manager, LASPA, Adebisi Adelabu, said the state government is moving to the level where every developer/builder must accommodate park provisions in their building plans before construction.

She said the Agency has been engaging with religious organisations and businesses on the need to establish parks for their worshippers and customers.

She mentioned that the need to reorder the indiscriminate collection of levies for parking was important to channel the funds into infrastructure to solve existing problems.