Lagos: No increase in fees for vehicle licence, number plates

The Lagos state government says it has not increased the cost of processing motor vehicle licence and application for number plates.

In a statement released on Tuesday by Kehinde Bamigbetan, commissioner for information and strategy, the state said the rumoured increase is being peddled by mischief makers who want to take advantage of the situation with the reviewed land use charge.

The state government recently reviewed land use charge in a bid to increase internally generated revenue.

The action was not accepted by some residents of the state with the Nigerian Bar Association leading a protest on Tuesday.

“Although the cost of maintaining the roads and expanding infrastructures which ease the operations of vehicles is enormous, the Lagos state government shall continue to bear the burden of keeping the roads motorable and safe for all users,” the statement read.

Bamigbetan said anyone with evidence of an increase in the rates from any of the official centres managed by the Lagos State Motor Vehicle Administration Authority (MVAA) should report to the agency or the ministry of transportation.

Speaking with journalists after a walk against sexual and domestic violence on Monday, Akinwumi Ambode, governor of the state, said efforts being made by the government were in the best interest of residents.

“We have over 300 tax items for which nothing has been touched apart from this land use charge and maybe one other. But again, we are a very responsive government; we are very sensitive because at the end of the day, governance is about the people; it is about what they want,” he said.

“Yes, people might like that infrastructural development is on the progressive chart in Lagos but also it comes with a price. But notwithstanding in the middle of all that, a responsive government will listen to the yearnings of her people.

“At the end of the day, it’s all for the development of Lagos. It is not about today, it is about the future and if there is going to be permanent prosperity in Lagos, some things have to be done.”