Those who park outside their offices, residential houses in Lagos are in for a shocker as their vehicles are prone to be towed.
This is as a result of a new parking fee which is applicable to those who park cars outside their office premises.
This information came to the fore after the Lagos State Parking Authority (LASPA) wrote a letter to Nellies, a food and snack company, in Lagos asking the company to pay a sum of N290,000 as charge for creating parking lots on the setbacks to its building.
LASPA’s letter showed that the agency charged N80,000 per annum on three parking slots for off-street with N50,000 as nonrefundable administrative processing fee.
In its letter, it explained thus: “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,” the letter reads.
“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 totaling N240,000.00(Two Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira) only.
“Also, a non-refundable Processing fee of N50,000 (Fifty Thousand Naira) only applies based on your location totaling 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.”
Owner of the business premises, Nelly Agbogu, had gone on her social media page for complain about what she called arbitrary charge demanding how she could be charged for cars parked in her premises.
She had written, “We now pay to park in our compound in our office? I swear my tired is tired! If not for the grace of God! I want to sincerely japa! Nigeria has a way of crushing your dreams.”
However, she was to later apologise for her initial condemnation after clarifications from the agency.
“After my post, yesterday on parking, the General Manager for Parking authorities through the LASG came to my office today to confirm what happened.
“I wasn’t in the office, however, after a phone call, we realized that the person who brought the letter told my staff “within the premises” and to our understanding “within” includes the compound and our pavement after the fence. However, outside as the letter stated belongs to the Government (which made me to post “inside” and we apologize for that).
“Now from what they explained, after the perimeter fence (between the fence and the gutter) belongs to the government and that is where we are to pay or any car seen there will be towed. I have informed them that we will tell our customers to park inside. Thank you everyone for helping us get this sorted.”
Providing further clarification on the letter, LASPA, General Manager, Adebisi Adelabu, said the property was charged for parking cars on the setback belonging to the government.
The manager further stressed that the agency would not charge on cars parked in any compound.
“The general public MUST be aware that LASPA or any of its staffers or agents WILL NOT charge on cars parked in any compound but if anyone parks on the setback, such person, organisation or group of persons will be charged accordingly,” Adelabu said.
“A setback (for obvious reasons) is the space between your perimeter fencing and the walkway or the road, as the case may be. Whoever claims he/she owns a setback around his/her property will have to provide official documentation from the Authorized MDA in Lagos State showing the legal ownership of the said setback and the TRAFFIC IMPACT ASSESSMENT (TIA) certificate of the property to the authority.
“The general public should please be equipped with this important information going forward. The Authority frowns at such malicious statements and falsehood.”
LASPA was established in 2021 by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, with the aim of promoting parking policies in line with national transport policies by advancing knowledge, raising standards and assessment of related fees.
According to information gathered on LASPA’s website, the parking levy is imposed on corporate organisations with on-street/setback parking lots and all car park operators — commercial and non-commercial.