The auctioning of impounded vehicles has continued to attract reactions. While some are calling on the government to review the traffic law, experts believe the law will sanitise the roads and halt drivers’ indiscipline, ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE writes

Early last year, a brand reporter with an Apapa-based newspaper was knocked down by a fast-moving vehicle driven at a ‘mad speed’ against traffic. He slipped into a coma. He spent eight months in that state. He never survived it.

Another media executive, same year, had a close shave with death, as he made to buy a loaf of bread across the road at Agege, on his way back home. He was knocked down by a fast-moving okada with no headlamps on, and driving at top speed against traffic. His journey home was truncated. He sustained a broken skull and underwent Maxillofacial surgery to correct a broken jaw. He spent four months at the hospital. He still carries the scar, but is lucky to be alive.

Contentious data

Three such one-way accidents occurred around Ajah, Lagos, early in the year. A safe road advocate, who witnessed the accidents, said only one survived of the three.

Victims of what has come to be known locally as “hit-and-run” are increasing in worrisome numbers across the country.

The United Nations (UN) Global Status Report said 39, 803 people die from road traffic accidents yearly in Nigeria. The Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC), the lead road safety agency, while not contesting the UN’s figures, safely put theirs at 4,900 yearly. The disparity has left experts in a lurch as casualty rate in Nigeria remained guesstimates.

Enforcement

But while the controversy rages, more innocent people are dying from reckless acts of drivers, due to poor enforcement.

This informed why a state like Lagos has revved up enforcement to curb road indiscipline by motorists.

The Babatunde Fashola-led administration in 2012 elevated driving against traffic a capital offence, by slamming N250,000 fine on offenders. This is besides impounding the vehicle and demanding a psychiatric evaluation report from anyone caught driving against traffic (known locally as one-way driving).

These penalties, considered stiff, have however been watered down. The Akinwunmi Ambode-led administration in the 2018 amendment of the Lagos State Traffic Reform Law, dropped the psychiatric test, and removed the fine. It, however, retained the impoundment of the affected vehicle.

The current administration led by Babajide Sanwo-Olu, which made transport management and traffic control the heart of its THEMES Agenda, embarked on massive enforcement, and has auctioned hundreds of impounded vehicles in line with the law.

Other infractions

But motorists are ignorant of other infractions for which their vehicles could be impounded outside ‘one way driving’. By the state’s TRL 2018, other infractions for which your vehicle could be impounded includes driving without valid driver’s licence, driving without road worthiness permit, driving without hackney permit, driving without displaying of hackney permit (for commercial vehicles), part-time commercial vehicle operator (Kabu-Kabu operations) without permit and disobeying LASTMA officers, which goes with a N30,000 fine.

Other offences for which your vehicles could be impounded are; smoking while driving (or a N30,000 fine), driving without a car hire service permit (for which third-time offenders risk impoundment of such vehicle, while a first and second-time offender pays N20 and N30,000 fine) and driving on walkway or kerb.

Though these eight offences could lead to impounding of vehicles, driving against traffic remained the most prominent, for which the government’s goodwill had suffered the most.

Last month’s auction was the most contentious. Many carpeted the law, describing it as “draconian.”

The government, which until then, enjoyed a huge political goodwill suffered visceral jabs, as many described the governor, hitherto celebrated as the “Star Boy” as “heartless and inconsiderate.”

The people became incensed with the widow’s tale. Who, with her son, imprisoned for the same cause, and the death of her daughter, still had her vehicle, a commercial bus, auctioned. The opposition tried to make a political capital of the intense emotion the viral scene generated.

Rotimi Fashakin, longed for another legal titan like the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, stating that the constitutionality of the law ought to be tested in the interest of the masses.

Fashakin, a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), last week on Facebook, described the law as draconian. The intervention was his last, as he died on Saturday.

He wondered why the government could not visit capital punishment on the offending driver and leave the vehicle.

Fashakin, who lauded the bold initiatives of the Sanwo-Olu administration in the area of road and rail infrastructure, urged “as matter of urgency, an amendment of traffic rules in the state”.

He described the seizure of the vehicle as disproportionate to the crime of a ‘one-way’ traffic offence because in law traffic offence is a strict liability offence that needs no proof of Mens rea (intention).

“A legislation that prescribes seizure of an asset for an offence – when the legality of the asset is not in question – is to, say the least, very draconian,” he stated, adding, that “it is both inequitable and disproportionate to the offence.”

Though he admitted that laws are enacted to regulate behaviours within a polity, he described this as an emotional way of transferring the frustration of the government and law-abidwoman who was brought to court for wrong way driving on M40. If she had done that in Lagos state, her car would have been impounded and auctioned! But the court held that the comeuppance for the offence shall be: disqualification for driving for 20 months; retaking an extended driving test; 12-month Community order; 250 hours of unpaid work and £180 fine.”

He underscored the court’s concentration on the driver of the vehicle because the car cannot drive itself, adding that the legality of the car was not what was under adjudication; it was the man who committed the infraction by using the car wrongly! Fashakin and others like him, asked why the driver should be stripped of the ownership of his vehicle by the State? “Given that chapter four of the 1999 Nigerian constitution as amended, guarantees every Nigerian the right to own property, it is wrong for any law to seek to deprive the Nigerian of his property – when the legality of the acquisition of the property is not in question, adding that such acts to all intents and purposes, remains very unconstitutional.”

Given the foregoing, how equitable is it to make the comeuppance for a strict liability offence to be so extreme?

Traffic Offences fall into this category. Intention (Mens rea) to commit the offence is not needed to prove guilt. “This explains why the law enforcement agents (LASTMA, POLICE etc) hide behind trees waiting for potential law breakers. It is even alleged that they deliberately remove the ‘no-entry’ signs on the one-way roads! They have unwittingly made themselves – using the instrumentality of the Law – as predators pouncing on preys.

For him, many motorists truly have innocently committed the offence. But in a situation where the burden of proof is not on the prosecution to prove Mens rea, the offender is made to pay dearly for his unintentional error. That should never be the objective of the Law. It is meant to regulate conduct and not for oppression of the citizens.

Sam Adebusuyi, like Fashakin wondered why the government would be taking “cold uncalculating steps close to an election cycle as if it is determined to drive a wedge between it and the people whose confidence and goodwill it had labored so much to build.”

Adebusuyi said it would be bad for the government to give the opposition an opportunity to make a political capital of the law and sway the people.

But some transportation experts have pitched their tent with the government, insisting that there’s no better time for the government to stamp out road indiscipline and stop avoidable deaths on the road.

Going back to the United Nations accident figures in the country, Executive Director Safety Without Borders (SWB) Patrick Adenusi, said if 39,803 people voted for any party, such a party stands more chance of winning in any election. He called for more draconian laws by Lagos and other states to stamp out accidents.

“For me, no vehicle ought to make its way back into the system once impounded. They ought to be crushed to serve as deterrence to others. Fashola tried to enforce the psychiatric evaluation of anyone caught driving against traffic because sincerely, such people aren’t normal and their state of sanity needed to be evaluated in order to ensure they get access early to management. Sadly, that was stopped, because everybody became afraid that such an evaluation report could get into their files and mess them up.”

Adenusi took a swipe at those asking the government to copy what obtains in developed nations. “Let no one run away with the impression that saints live in Europe. They also have those who drive without drivers licence and people commit all manners of traffic offences there as well,” he said.

He said while it is true that the vehicle is innocent until driven to offend the law, yet, in our climate, impounding such vehicles remains the only way to get the owner/driver in a country with little or no reliable database.

“We need to be shorn of emotion. A nation losing 39, 803 people on the road yearly should be more serious in crushing one-way driving. Drivers ought to undergo psychiatric test and the vehicles ought to be crushed. Bringing them back to the roads should not even be entertained. I will without any sentiment vote for stiffer penalties against one way driving, he said.

Former Dean School of Transportation, Lagos State University (LASU-SOT) Prof Samuel Odewunmi said though the penalty appears draconian, yet, “driving against traffic is a serious traffic violation that must be tackled by all means. He said impounding vehicles is easier to enforce than arresting and taking drivers to court, wasting state’s resources in endless litigation.

To avoid being drawn into the endless controversy Odewunmi urged the state to ensure conspicuous markings to indicate whether a road is dual or one way. No road must be designated one way without adequate enlightenment. It should not be a trap for law enforcement agents.

“Government’s responsibility is to preserve and protect the lives of its people. No one should in the course of enjoying his own life cut short another’s. Roads are a shared asset for every Lagosian and the government has a responsibility to protect the lives of all.

Anyone driving against traffic poses a threat to others and as such ought to be pulled out before he causes irreparable damage to others. That is the essence of the law and no one irrespective of his political persuasion would say he is supports murder of another person, because that is what driving against traffic suggests.”

Odewunmi wants tougher laws to be applicable to all, whether civilian or uniformed men, because “security operatives and even medical personnel are known to flout the law.”

Making more motorable the constricted portion on Kara Bridge, inward Lagos, could end the traffic gridlock being experienced on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Transportation Specialist ADEOLU DINA proffers a solution that could rid the road of gridlock as the project, expected to be delivered by December, enters its final lap.

Road rehabilitation and reconstruction is a reoccurring activity in human space, where such infrastructure has deteriorated. Either way, the two challenges often result in poor processing of vehicular traffic, resulting in a traffic hold-up.

Today, monitoring and deploying solutions to traffic-related challenges is now exclusively domiciled with transport planners, a specialised profession that is only recently recognised in Nigeria’s public service.

The disruptive effect of road rehabilitation and reconstruction on traffic can be enormous and traumatic, especially when such roads process heavy volume of vehicles. Such roads, to this end, require careful planning to minimise delays and the high cost associated with congestion. These costs, quantifiable and otherwise, often manifest in the form of loss of man-hours, stress on road users, higher fuel consumption, and heavy pollution, among others.

It is in light of the foregoing that stakeholders are often required to share expertise and experience in preventing or resolving problems associated with traffic flow. As an academic, one, therefore, constrained to proffer as a form of community service, expertise, to find a lasting solution to the gridlock in the Kara area inward Lagos on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The suggested solutions could be further applied to other road works having existing traffic flow within the state and in the country.

Oldest Expressway

The 127-kilometre Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is, perhaps, Nigeria’s oldest expressway. It was inaugurated in 1978 by the Olusegun Obasanjo-led military administration. The road was built to facilitate the movement of vehicular traffic in large volumes between Lagos and other regions of Nigeria.

Individuals in their late 50s and above who drove on this road in their early years have shared common tale of driving from the old toll gate in Lagos (around the 7Up area) to the Ibadan toll gate in 45 minutes.

Arising from the phenomenal growth of Lagos, the lack of alternative routing and travel modes into the state, the design capacity for the road had for long been exceeded, so much as the life span of the road infrastructure as of 1999.

Furthermore, new towns have also emerged along the stretch of expressway occasioned by the Lagos sprawl. This further complicated the vehicular traffic demand placed on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway in recent decades.

A significant reduction in the average vehicular speed had for long been experienced together with increased vehicular density on the road. The occurrence of intermittent illegal bus stops and illegal pedestrian crossings that sprouted over time between the Lagos and Sagamu section of the road was not part of the original design. In other words, 20 years after its construction, this roadway had by far exceeded its designed capacity for its traffic as originally designed.

From 2000, it had become very pertinent for the road infrastructure to be upgraded for it to function in line with the new demands placed on it.

It is noteworthy that the effort to reconstruct the expressway was first initiated under the civil administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo as a Build Operate Transfer (BoT) Scheme with an elaborate 10-lane expressway design. This contract was later re-awarded and the Jonathan administration kicked off its reconstruction in July 2013.

Since the commencement of the reconstruction, commuters and travelers using the road have suffered untold hardship due to intermittent diversions by the contractor. However, the most intense traffic snarl resulting from these diversions was more intense between Sagamu and Lagos sections of the road. As the construction winds down, the recent and the last set of diversions created around the Kara Bridge by the contractor have resonated with the previous hardship encountered on the road.

Curious gridlock

Curious observers would by now have observed that the problem around the diversions at Kara is only compounded inward Lagos. Any discerning mind should be curious about the difference exhibited by traffic on either side of the road. The current daily recurring hold encountered on one side of the road is excruciating and exerts a heavy toll on the lives and economy of road users. This is despite the assurances by government authorities on the measures put in place to ensure the ease of traffic flow around the construction zones. This perceived constriction is what this piece seeks to help unravel as we proffer professional solution to the challenge of the traffic gridlock in Kara.

The objective is two folds: the first,  analyse the reasons for the excruciating traffic congestion at Kara, and the other, to suggest a policy framework for government to adopt that will help forestall a future reoccurrence of gridlocks during similar road works.

The Queue Theory

All the discussions, explanations, and solutions suggested in this article are based on the Queue Theory. It offers a fantastic means of explaining the problem that created the current traffic situation for the public to understand without delving into any scientific jargon.

Just for enlightenment, the Queuing Theory was introduced in the early 20th century by a Danish mathematician who wanted to analyse and optimise telephone operations in one of the European countries. Today scientists have largely expanded the operation of this model due to its relevance. The theory is concerned with studying the dynamics of any queue system and how it can be made to operate more efficiently. Four components of the Theory are important for our explanation, these are Arrival at the queue system, The queue, The Service process, and Exit from the queue system. These four components are discussed in their hierarchy of importance as a contributing factor to the traffic gridlock inward Lagos.

1. The Service Area

The service area is the most important in any queue system and will likely determine the length of any resulting queue. Have you ever wondered why a supermarket cashier who is slow in processing payment ends up with a queue of customers? The answer is simple. That is how the service pace affects queue or in this case vehicular traffic. The service area in the case at hand is the stretch of constricted road portion from the end of the Long Bridge to the Kara Bridge. Casual observation of the section of the work area by Julius Berger Construction Company showed they often create a one-kilometer work section for each team. This one-and-half lane constriction represents the cashier in this case or vehicles’ service area and the most important problem causing the traffic gridlock.

So what has Julius Barger and the authorities omitted in this service area? Ordinarily, one could have said the service area of 1km is too long to process the heavy traffic inflow in the morning and evening peak periods of this expressway. This long stretch of service area ensures prolonged presence within the service area. This problem is further compounded by a series of bad road portions within this service area, particularly the right-hand side of the two lanes (inward Lagos). This section has several potholes that inhibit the smooth flow of vehicles within this service area. This leaves tail-spin traffic, resulting in a traffic hold-up from a portion that should have been made to flow freely. Now recall my earlier example of a cashier holding up a queue of people waiting to pay in a supermarket. An unnecessarily slow cashier will hold up the queue longer than necessary. The rate of service is critical to the resulting queue behind. If it is at a peak period for sales, a very long queue will emerge because the service area cannot process the queue faster than people arriving at it. I will further buttress my point using two other examples. The long queue of people waiting to pay their last respect to the late Queen of England stretched for about an estimated eight kilometres with a sixteen-hour waiting time. Two lines were created to allow quicker processing of this human traffic. The traffic could have been quickly processed if people in the queue did not pause to bow and “salute” the late Queen a process which takes a few seconds to complete. This was frequent among those queuing, the result is a slow-paced queue with people held up in line. Another example that further affirms this position, is the less intense traffic outward Lagos on the other side of the construction area. The same system with the same length of constriction, however, due to its smooth road portion, traffic is quickly processed at a rate much faster than inward Lagos. The resulting queue is more tolerable. Lastly, when approaching the third bridge outward Lagos, a similar constriction was made by the construction company, this time a single lane; I have not observed any hold-up at this point in the morning, although in the evening, I expect a little traffic but not one that is intolerable. This is because the constricted portion is fully tarred and also rapidly processes vehicular traffic moving through it. Further to say again, that the other constricted portion inward Lagos about 2-3km after the Kara Bridge just after Berger Bridge, despite being constricted into single lane traffic and having more than 90percent of the Kara traffic is still able to process vehicles much more speedily. The resulting traffic does not induce as much hardship on travelers and commuters alike like the Kara section.

So what can be done to correct the problem at Kara? This is simple, authorities should impress it on the construction giant to perform a palliative correction on the bad portion within the constricted area of their work zone at Kara so that vehicles can move seamlessly within it. If possible, trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles should be encouraged to use the left lane of this section which has a hard surface, to reduce the traffic drag within the constricted zone. Such vehicles are slower, have higher lane occupancy, and can induce a drag within the traffic system when they have to move slower than necessary.

Arrival at the Queue

The rate of arrival is yet another important problem. The traffic inward Lagos exhibits two peak arrivals, in the morning and evenings. At these times, arrival, the rate at which vehicles enter the traffic or queue over time, is the highest and can escalate the traffic scenario into a major gridlock where the service area is not optimized. Unfortunately, there is little that can be done to manage this component by relevant authorities owing to the near absence of alternative routes entering Lagos; these alternative routes are in a deplorable state and unable to divert traffic away from the A1 expressway.

Exit from the system

The third most important problem here is exiting the service area. How the queue is exited and the rate at which they do so depends on how the service area processes traffic. However, it has been observed that public transport service providers often park at the service’s exit or constrict areas for their passengers to disembark. This bunch of recalcitrant drivers made up of interstate and commuter service providers further impede the flow on the right lane of the constricted portion. The effect is frequent but temporal competition for an exit from the queue, thereby compounding the already compromised efficacy of the service area constricted to accommodate road reconstruction by the construction giant. The result is slower processing of traffic within the system with longer traffic as currently exhibited entering Lagos. While this point is sometimes manned in the morning peak, the same cannot be said during the evening peak. Unfortunately, law enforcement agencies and men of state traffic management agencies TRACE and LASTMA, for Ogun and Lagos respectively, are often absent at this point in the evening peak. Enforcement agencies must make efforts to have this point manned at all times. These men must operate in shifts to avoid excessive fatigue and abandonment of this spot.

The Queue Process

Ordinarily, the component should not enjoin much discussion because the queue length is a consequence of the rate at which the service area can process traffic and the rate at which vehicles arrive at the system. Where the former is inefficient, the result is the queue or long stretch of hold-up we see on the roadways. However, there is a dimension in the behavioral context of driving in Nigeria that influences the system’s efficiency that must be explained. Vehicles often arrive at the queue on a three-lane structure, resulting from the reconstruction and expansion work created by the engineering company. Lack of lane discipline among drivers immediately dissolves the original structure into four-lane and later a five-lane system. The chaotic movement outlook often results in unnecessary competition among all categories of drivers in the traffic. The result is frequent lane changes, aggressive driving, and sometimes accidents aggravating the hold-up. This system sometimes dissolves into a 6th lane when the “Nigeria’s Landlords” led by their escort parties force their way through traffic. Drivers who wish to take advantage of their dissimulation sustain the presence of the 6th lane, driving recklessly as an extension of the convoy.

There may be no immediate solution to this problem. This behaviour is often vested in the poorly trained drivers on Nigerian roads, the poor traffic culture of our elites, and sense of entitlement of Nigeria’s service personnel in traffic. The effort to dissolve the six lanes created follows a descending order of lane arrangement from six to five, to four, three, and finally, two lanes that can access the constricted service area. The effect of the expansion and contraction of lanes on traffic cannot be over-emphasized. This is so because such lane expansion and contraction are chaotic and further compound traffic flow as drivers struggle between lanes.

Unfortunately, little can be done about this in the immediate and short term. However, with the entry of more learned drivers, one can only hope it will stem the observed behavior. There is also the danger of joining the bad gang as research is unclear if the poor driving attitude is environmentally induced or otherwise.

It is therefore recommended that the different layers of traffic authorities do the following to reduce and avoid future reoccurrence in any part of the country.

”         Carry out immediate palliative work within the constricted portion of the kara area inward Lagos in such a manner that bad road portions never impede vehicular flow.

”         Ensure traffic agents man the exit of the constricted portion at all times.

”         Ensure those manning the exit portion must operate on shift to reduce personnel fatigue and maintain presence morning till evening.

”         Certified transport professional viewpoints must be sourced on diversion plans to be put in place by construction companies; such consultancy should also include monitoring the system to identify and control. A wide array of computer-based simulation software is now available that can test the effect of any proposed diversion plans on the traffic systems. This requires a policy frame that will allow such input by transport experts when construction or rehabilitation works are to be undertaken.

Conclusion

The excruciating traffic is the poor engineering palliative put in place by the construction company handling the reconstruction work around the Kara area. The other is the failure of authorities (both federal and state) to properly diagnose the problem. Suffice it to say that the queue or traffic experienced at Kara may not instantly disappear upon the adoption of the above solution; however, there is a strong probability of reducing the average time travelers spend in such traffic by as much as 70%.   Most times, this will likely be tolerable for travelers and commuters who have had to spend in recent times between eight to 16 hours or more in the inward Lagos bound traffic gridlock.

• Dina, a Railway Transportation Specialist, is of the Department of Transport Management Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State.

Though Lagos State Government has said the parking permit is to better manage intra-city traffic, ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE writes on its validity as it conflicts with the constitution on the functions of local governments.

There has been some back and forth, since August 15, this year, when the Lagos State Government “shocked” residents in some parts of the state with demand notices for Parking Fees from a relatively new agency – Lagos State Parking Authority (LASPA).

LASPA is a creation of the Lagos State Transportation Reform Law 2018 (LTRL), an amendment, which seeks to consolidate transport sector laws which have been in place since 2012.

The law, which seeks to regulate parking and thereby reduce its impact on traffic flow within the state necessitated the establishment of LASPA to coordinate everything relating to managing parking by residents (corporate or private).

For an administration that made transportation management and traffic control its cardinal focus, through the THEMES Agenda, tapping into the opportunities inherent in coordinating parking and fixing and collecting permits is too enticing to be ignored.

The main issue is the knee-jerk introduction of what some residents have come to term “outrageous” fees “introduced without tact” by the agency.

Not only were many residents unaware of LASPA’s existence, the manner it started its operation, distributing demand notices in highbrow parts of the state, left a sour taste, from which the government has been trying to wiggle.

In the demand notice served on Nellis, a Lekki Phase I based firm, on August 15, this year, LASPA demanded N240,000, for off-street setback permit for three car spaces at N80,000 per car monthly, and a non-refundable feed of N50,000 referred to as administrative/processing fees. The letter claimed the processing fee is applied based on location (i.e. not fixed, but could go up/down). Nellis, by the notice, must pay the N290,000 for the year, within seven days.

The Notice caused quite a huge storm in the social media, with many Lagosians taking the government up on the need for such a draconian initiative at a time like this.

While Moshood Aluko, with Twitter handle @MoshoodAluko supported the government, saying there’s nothing wrong if government decides to charge a parking fee as that is the standard global practice, especially, if the parking slots is outside the fence and on a business district, another resident simply identified as @TheLotanna wondered why it is the property owner and not the motorist who parked that must be taxed. “I have never heard anywhere in the world where you tax someone because there is parking space in front of their property. If the government must make money from parking, shouldn’t it be the motorist that pays for parking?” Lotanna ended his brief with the punch, “What even is Lagos State Parking Authority? God Abeg o.”

Anyanwu Tony wondered why the government would want to take the fee upfront even if it is admissibly right, when it could mount parking metres on such allotted parking spaces and make users pay per park, as is done in developed nations of the United Kingdom, United States and elsewhere in Europe.

Many condemned the “high fees” demanded by the agency and what happens when it eventually becomes globally applicable in all parts of the metropolitan space.

It was no brainer that the Nellis incident was an avoidable gaffe. More confounding to residents is that such a step is being contemplated during a “very sensitive electoral cycle” where all eyes would be on the government and everyone would take a potshot at virtually everything, including even its non-verbal cues.

Doja Anselem was one of such residents, who on her Facebook Timeline, said: “Do you blame the government, they must look for money at all cost, election is around the corner.”
Or Moses Uwalaka, who said: “Campaigns must be funded. The governor has not only his election, but that of his principal to fund next year.”

LASPA has been groping at straws for a landing, with its series of explanations. First, it explained its existence and condemned Nellis, for the backlash since the notice went viral.

LASPA which denied it was a revenue making outfit initially stated that the demand notice would be in phases with the first being corporate bodies such as events centres, parking lot firms, and religious centres – churches and mosques, with which it claimed it has started negotiating.

But the Commissioner for Transportation Dr Frederic Oladeinde last Wednesday said LASPA’s main mandate is to rid the state of gridlocks arising from irregular parking by unscrupulous motorists.

According to him, the policy was to ensure that people stopped indiscriminate parking on setbacks, while those using the setbacks for commercial purposes, thereby constricting the road and putting the facility under stress as well as inflicting pains on other users must be brought under some forms of control.

According to him, LASPA was created to find a lasting solution to the issues of illegal parking that had limited the opportunities for motorists to commute freely.

At a briefing, attended by his Information and Strategy colleague Gbenga Omotoso, as well as LASPA’s General Manager, Adebisi Adelabu, Oladeinde accused “political jobbers” for the exaggerated but futile spin of the LASPA tale, and enjoined Lagosians to cooperate with the agency and other similar stakeholders in carrying out its mandate.

 

It’s about revenue

“LASPA has the mandate to charge fees on private commercial parks, non-commercial parks and other parking lots or any facility provided by the Authority,” Oladeinde said.
For him, most private commercial parks charge the Lagosians between N500 and N1,000 parking levy per hour and each person parking at these parks can have four stopovers, which sums up to N2,000 or N4,000 daily.

“At the end of the year, the commercial park owner will realise over N182,500 or N365,000, if charges are per hour or gain a total N730,000 or N1,460,000 for four stopovers. This is the price most Lagosians pay to commercial park owners.

Comparatively, according to Oladeinde, “LASPA pegs its levy at N80,000 divided by the number of days in a year, it ends up at about 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, however, assured that being one that puts the constitution in high esteem, “the government will not resort to unconstitutional means in dealing with the people.”

Though the Commissioner sees nothing wrong in the government making some money, the LASPA chief, Adelabu, said the agency’s mandate was bigger than making money, but ensuring that the state becomes livable for all, irrespective of status.

“We have being engaging owners of event centres, Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Muslim association on the need to have parking space for their members and not park on the road, disturbing other road users in the state. We believe that if you want to build a mega church, you provide mega parking space.

“It is not solely about making money, we are solving problems. We are not trying to take away commercial parks, but if you are getting into the business, the state needs to regulate. It is important to have you on our database.

“If you are making space for parking outside your title, you will need a permit. As long as you are using government setbacks, you will need a permit,” she said.

 

Who regulates

For human rights activist Femi Falana (SAN), the government need not be going back and forth. For him, LASPA is illegal and attempts to fix, regulate and collect parking permits is null and void, to the extent of its conflict with the 1999 Nigeria Constitution as amended.

He urged the government to be guided by the constitution, which vested the power to collect parking permits solely on local governments.

Falana and the state’s Attorney-General Moyosore Onigbanjo had been trading legal authority on the validity of LASPA, and the legality of the parking permit. Falana, last Friday, in response to the government’s earlier position cautioned the Lagos State government against usurping the powers conferred on local governments by the constitution, to fix, regulate and collect parking fees.

In a letter written to the Attorney-General & Commissioner for Justice, Lagos State, which was signed by E. Olawanle, Falana reminded the state government of the pronouncement of the Supreme Court on the illegality of usurping the powers conferred on local governments.

The letter entitled Re: ‘Lagos Parking Levy is constitutional,’ stated that in view of the authoritative pronouncement of the Supreme Court on the illegality of usurping the powers conferred on local governments by state governments, it was indisputably clear that the local governments cannot be legitimately divested of the powers conferred on them by Section 7 of the Constitution to fix and collect parking fees in Lagos State.

Falana insisted that even if they wanted to divest themselves of those powers, local governments in the state cannot, because it is enshrined in the constitution.

He urged the AG to advise the government on the impropriety of fixing and collecting parking permits, and the illegality of LASPA, a state agency, to regulate a function that was under the purview of local governments.

“Accordingly, we are compelled to urge the Attorney General to prevail on the Lagos State Parking Authority to desist from fixing and collecting parking fees in Lagos State,” Falana said.

Though Oladeinde had assured that the government would not flout the nation’s grund norm, it remains to be seen whether the government would leave this to its 57 councils to shore up their internally generated revenue (IGR) or find another way of consolidating it. It also remains to be seen whether it would be the end to LASPA, and an end to inordinate fees slammed on those who had no event centres or either a church or mosque, but got slammed all the same because they had setbacks, which motorists are illegally utilising.

Its six days after the ban on commercial motorcycles was extended to four additional local government areas and six Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in Lagos State. ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE writes on nagging issues and initiatives unveiled by the government to reverse the okada narratives.

Hundreds of commercial motorcycle operators from Kosofe and environs who stormed the Lagos State Secretariat, Alausa, Ikeja, last week, protesting the impending ban on their operations should have deployed their time more productively than wasting it.

Futile effort

Barely 48 hours after they left the Secretariat assured, the government, citing public interest, banned Okada operation in four more local governments.

The councils affected in the new ban order issued on August 19, which became enforceable on September 1, are Kosofe, Oshodi-Isolo, Somolu and Mushin. LCDAs affected are Ikosi-Isheri, Agboyi-Ketu, Isolo, Ejigbo, Bariga and Odi-Olowo.

Locked ban

One of the nagging headaches inherited by the Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led administration in May 2019, was the okada menace. The government, as part of its 100-day-in-office celebration, on October 19, 2019, banned e-hailing okada firms, while partially restricting others.

The directive was, however, enforced in breaches as the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, followed by the EndSARs protests adversely affected enforcement. However, okada operation had to be revisited again this year, when its menace started gaining dangerous ascendancy, with reported killings of patrons, coupled with security reports indicating that the uncoordinated operations of okada posed major threats to lives and property of residents of the state.

Sanwo-Olu’s successors had attempted some restrictions on the okada in the past. Beginning from Fashola, who in 2012, succeeded in putting together the Transport Sector Law, which banned okada operation on  bridges, federal and state roads, including highways, expressways, and others, restricting them to inner city or neighbourhood roads.

Respite, however, came under former Governor Akinwumi Ambode administration as enforcement came in breaches, resulting almost in a return to the old order as businessmen started testing the ambit of what began to be known as “the Fashola law,” with the evolution of e-hailing okada where corporate entities took over, offering patrons e-hailing alternatives to beat the chaotic traffic with 200cc high capacity engine of okada permitted by the law.

But since June, Lagos moved away from the regimes of partial restriction, which had been in place since 2012, to outright ban, to the admiration of the majority of residents.

A media executive, who moderated a town hall forum organised by the government on the okada menace recently, Babajide Otitoloju, had called out the government to announce a statewide ban on okada as a commercial venture. He urged Governor Sanwo-Olu to join his brother governors who had banned the two-wheel vehicle in their domain as the way out of the madness on the roads in megacity Lagos.

From 15 of the 57 council areas, from where he piloted the ban regime on June 1, this year, to 25, last Thursday, the administration seemed set to make the ban statewide by December.

Last week, the co-chairman of the Inter-ministerial Committee on the okada ban, and Commissioner for Transportation Dr Frederic Oladeinde unveiled the extension. He said Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has directed the Nigeria Police, and other security agencies to enforce the ban of okada on roads within the affected local governments and LCDAs.

He said: “The government will continue to arrest, impound and crush any okada caught flouting the law on all streets within these local governments and LCDAs, to serve as a deterrent.’’

For him, the government cannot continue to be at variance with the majority of Lagosians, who at a town hall meeting on August 16, had demanded for a blanket ban on commercial motorcycles in the state.

According to him, since June 1, Lagosians in some of the councils covered by the order, have been experiencing relative sanity, compared to other parts where okada operations are still permitted.

He said statistics from the Nigeria Police have shown a continuous drop in crime and accident rates associated with okada operations in the state, adding that the government would rather err in the cause of preserving lives and properties of the majority than bend to the whims of the minority.

Use Alternatives

Oladeinde outlined robust transport alternatives outlined for the convenience of Lagosians. “From the comfort of their homes, residents could take the First and Last-Mile (those mini- and midi- buses) to connect the high capacity BRT buses at various bus terminals and bus shelters, while those living in riverine areas could begin to make use of the various initiatives on the waterways. In the alternative, they could hail the Lagosride taxis, and could share the ride with others.”

Oladeinde said 200 more FLM and BRTs have been injected into the 10 new local governments captured by the ban to ease the worries of residents, while other viable options are still being considered and would be unveiled in due course. He canvassed residents to also consider non-motorised options such as walking and cycling, as “not too bad ideas or modes of commuting,” as is done in the United Kingdom, the United States and other climes with robust transport systems.

Go for skills

Rather than carpet the government as“insensitive and uncompassionate,” the Commissioner for Transportation said many initiatives are already in place to boost “their personal economy” beyond the meager income earned daily as an okada operator.

He said the government is willing to give expeditious consideration/preference to a cooperative group formed by operators to operate the fleet of FLM or BRT buses, for others who could not come up with such model, they could approach the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA),  for vocational training, or the Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment (WC&E), for business internship support and training, or the Office of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) or the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), for seed funds for business projects, or the Ministry of Agriculture, where vast land are available under the state’s Agric-YES scheme.

Can Nigeria sanction China’s CCECC over alleged failure to fund its rail projects? ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE writes on its implications.

The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, was miffed penultimate week. He couldn’t understand the seeming desertion of agreements to deliver more rail lines to Nigeria.

To demonstrate his disappointment, he gave the contractor – China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) – till October to either fund some of the rail networks for which it has entered into a contract with Nigeria, or be sanctioned by the Federal Government.

Blowing hot during his tour of some projects in Lagos, Sambo described as unacceptable the pace of work on the Kano-Kaduna standard gauge and the Port Harcourt.

For him, two years after signing an MoU with Nigeria, the contractor had done nothing and might never do anything, as CCECC neither provided the counterpart funding nor mobilised to site.

According to him, the agreement stipulated that CCECC is to provide 85 per cent of the project cost, while the Federal Government provides the balnce.

He said: “I have given them till October 2022 to fulfill their own part of the agreement or stiff sanction would be meted out to them.

“How could it be said that years after the agreement was signed, CCECC is yet to provide a dollar or move to the site?”

Experts observed that whatever is happening to the Kano-Kaduna rail construction and the Eastern line (known as the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail line) is reverberating across all corridors where there are hanging projects.

But they averred that the minister’s outburst was capable of embarrassing the government, as it had the potential of rupturing the amity between the two countries.

With 10 months to handing over next May, hardly would the Muhammadu Buhari government get another rail project delivered, despite contractual agreements some dating back to 2017, 2019 and early last year, or with currency swap that saw the Federal Government accepting the China’s currency as a means of exchange for international trade between the two countries, watchers said.

Sambo was not alone in his criticism of the China’s company. His immediate predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi, had in March accused CCECC of being unserious with the Kano-Kaduna rail project, urging the contractor to provide funding for the project and get it off the ground.

Amaechi had said: “The pace of work is extremely slow. The pieces of equipment are supposed to be 2,000 plus, but what they (CCECC) have brought so far is 541, they claim that 300 and some equipment are in Kaduna. Even if you added all together, you will have 841 equipment in place of the 2,000 equipment that they were supposed to bring. That means something is wrong somewhere.

“I know they (CCECC) claim that there is no money, that we have not funded them. CCECC has not brought money. The Chinese are no longer giving us money for more than three to four years.”

A top official of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, who preferred anonymity, said the rail projects might have become sucked in the “civil service officialdom”. Left with insufficient time, other projects might have to wait on Buhari’s successor, whose commitment is critical to the sustenance of the rail transformation, their nurturing and maturation.

For him, at the heart of the delay is the inability of the government to come up with counterpart funding for any of the project for which the new minister is annoyed.

Another source, a former staff member of the ministry, blamed Sambo’s outburst on the quality of advice available to him.

Noting that the new minister  is new on the job, the former official said he should not dabble into issues without proper briefing.

Giving an insight, he said the Lagos-Kano standard gauge rail line was a project okayed since 2002 as to cement the bilateral relationship between the two nations.

He said the contract for the Lagos-Kano (also known as the Western Line of the Nigerian Railway Corporation), worth is $6.6 billion, came with some concessions from the Chinese government, who brought in  CCECC and its subsidiary – the China Rail Construction Corporation (CRCC) –  which have some presence in Nigeria – to execute the project.

According to the source, who would not want to be mentioned, any sanction meted to China, which might include relieving CCECC of the project, might be subjected to several interpretations that could hurt the relationship between the two nations.

He said: “Have officials of the Ministry of Transportation fully briefed the new minister? Have the Ministry of Finance fulfilled Nigeria’s obligation which was to provide 15 per cent counterpart funding and have been able to secure the right of way for the projects? If we haven’t fully discharged our side of the bargain, would it be right to blame a friend who is bringing his money to help build our infrastructure for not coming up with his own side of the bargain?”

Beyond asking what could amount to a rhetorical question, the source disclosed that the condition which was obtained in 2002, or even 2019 no longer obtains, and Nigeria, if indeed it needed global funding, must make itself ready and think out of the box to make it happen.

Analysts said Nigeria’s situation may not even be helped by the fact other nations including Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire in West Africa, Kenya, Zambia and Ethiopia are already waking up and seeking assistance from China and other friendly nations to build similar infrastructure.