Lagos begins collection of levy for parking outside perimeter fence

The Lagos state government has commenced the collection of levies for cars parked outside the perimeter fence of companies.

A setback is a minimum distance from a property line to which a building must be set back from a street or road, among others. 

In a letter seen by TheCable, dated August 15 and sent by Lagos State Parking Authority (LASPA) to Nellies, a food and snack company, the agency charged N290,000 for parking lots on setbacks. 

According to the letter, the agency charged N80,000 per annum on three parking slots for off-street with N50,000 as nonrefundable administrative processing fee. 

“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 totalling N240,000.00(Two Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira) only. 

“Also, a non-refundable Administrative/Processing fee of N50,000 (Fifty Thousand Naira) only applies based on your location totalling 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.”

In a Facebook post, Nelly Agbogu, founder, Nellies, kicked against the payment of parking “inside her office premises”.

“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,” she wrote.

OUR CUSTOMERS WILL NOW PARK INSIDE COMPOUND – NELLIES 

Agbogu later apologised after getting clarification 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,” she wrote.

“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.”

LASPA PROVIDES FURTHER CLARIFICATION

In a follow-up post on its website, LASPA said the property was charged for parking cars on the setback belonging to the government.

Adebisi Adelabu, general manager, LASPA, said 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.”

In 2021, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, established LASPA to promote parking policies in line with national transport policies by advancing knowledge, raising standards and assessment of related fees.

According to information 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.