It came to accomplish two goals: generate revenue and keep the roads tidy, but instead, the Abuja park-and-pay policy is running into one bump after another.
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), in order to control reckless parking of cars in the city centre, and also increase its revenue, introduced the park-and-pay policy. Under it motorists part with a little sum of money for parking in a commercial or business district for a stipulated time. It was simply to generate money for the capital city as well as bring orderliness to the bustling streets.
The administration is not the first in the world to introduce or adopt the park and pay system; countries like the United Kingdom (UK), United States of America, etc, have been applying the system for years.
Since the introduction of the system last year, however, people have either been complaining bitterly about it and the officials paid to man it or have grudgingly accepted their fate and moved on.
There was a little commotion a few months back, a development which residents and motorists have become familiar with in Abuja. At Wuse II area of the city, opposite one of the famous lounges, a Siena mini-bus was being towed while a plump park-and-pay official in charge of the area was busy giving directions on how best to clamp the car.
A few minutes later, a tall man ran out of a close-by building and started yelling for them to stop, although his car by then was already in the air being fitted to the towing lorry. The official when confronted, insisted that the man insulted her before leaving, which made her refuse to collect his money or give him a ticket but instead to call for his car to be towed just to teach him a lesson.
Have the officials been turned into demigods or so they simply love making trouble, or is it that they hate their job?
Motorists like Ameachi, who is a banker, accepts that it will not be bad to park and pay because it is here to develop the city but insisted that it is the government which does not use it effectively, as is the case in countries where the taxation works for the people.
On the other hand, Elias, a driver with one of the banks, explained that everything in life is based on understanding. Most times, it is the way the officials work that brings about the confusion.
For example when you park and in some cases do not find the officials in sight to buy your ticket, instead of hanging around and probably missing your appointment, you rush off with the hope of paying when you return only to find that your car has been clamped.
They will insist that you pay N5000 and if unfortunately you do not have that much money on you, your car will be towed to their office where you will then be required to pay as much as N15,000 and the money will be increased by N1000 everyday it spends in their office premises.
In their defence Peter, one of the ticketers of the park and pay who has been on the job for about six months, explained that some of them are actually graduates who take the job even with the low salary they are paid. In addition, to the insults from commuters and late payment of the merger salaries just to avoid sitting back at home.
He explained that they do not deliberately make themselves scarce as most motorists allege but insisted that they might be attending to a customer and another comes and is not patient enough to wait their turn.
He agreed that situations where they cannot find change, they allow motorists to bring along the money when they come out but some motorists tell lies about not having change when they do, end up driving off without paying or his supervisors might come around and they will clamp any car they see without tickets, without bothering to ask the ticketer in charge.
A diplomat, Ambassador Mohammed Ibrahim, explained that the policy is not new because other countries practice it especially in London, where you do not only pay for parking but also toll gate fees. He said that the FCT administration would have handled the policy itself for a few months to understand how much is made in a day or month before contracting it out.
With the knowledge of the system firmly under the belt, the administration will be able to avoid a situation where the private consultants try to enrich themselves.
The head of mass transit under the transport secretariat of the FCTA, Mr. Adewale Alebiosu denied knowledge of a fraud against the administration and insisted that the four private consultants, Platinum Parking Management Services Ltd. Nagek Nig. Ltd. Integrated parking and the Automatem Baumen Nig. Ltd are doing a good job under the close supervision of the administration.
He insisted that it is not the job of the ticketer, to go about looking for change but that motorists who know that they will need to pay for the policy need to come along with their change and not make the ticketer leave his duty post in charge of change.
Alebiosu said, “We Nigerians simply like problem, if you know that you are going to a place and may spend up to two or three hours, why won’t you just pay it and save yourself the embarrassment?”
He insisted that the FCT administration always sanctions erring officials or firms which do not abide by the rules and himself and other officials visit sites everyday, unannounced to make sure that the park and pay policy works appropriately.
