Lagos Govt., Says Parking Levy Initiative To Check Multiple Taxation

Lagos State Government has cleared air on the issue of parking levy introduced by its agency , Lagos State Parking Authority (LASPA), said the initiative is to eliminate indiscriminate levy collections.

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.

Speaking on the activities of LASPA at a press conference yesterday, the state Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Frederick Oladeinde , said against the erroneous claims of certain individuals and groups, LASPA was empowered 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.

Describing the agency as one stop authority, providing solutions to parking challenges across the State, adding that idea that informed the creation of the agency was to put an end to impediments arising from indiscriminate parking and collection of levies.

According to him, the agency was also empowered to remove all impediments arising from indiscriminate parking on carriageways, 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 and 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 4 stop over 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 charges is per hour or gain a total N730,000 or N1,460,000 for 4 stopovers. This is the price most Lagosians pay to commercial park owners.

“LASPA levy of N80,000 divided by the No of days in a year result 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,” he argued further.

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.”

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

The State’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, said the claims that the Government was to levy people for parking in their private residence was a craft of falsehood.

“It is not true, it is an attempt to malign the government by mischievous people. We are not surprise 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, Mrs. 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 indiscriminate collection of levies for parking was important to channel the funds into infrastructure to solve existing problems.