For its criticism about the new parking policy by the Lagos State Government, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has lampooned the opposition party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for attempts to “curry sentiment of Lagosians.”
This was contained in a press statement released by the spokesperson of the ruling party, Seye Oladejo on Saturday as exclusively made available the theliberationnews.
In response to PDP’s criticism that the policy is to extort Lagosians, APC explained that the state government established the Lagos State Parking Permit Authority (LASPPA) to address the growing need for regulation of chaotic parking in the state.
The ruling party noted that the opposition was only doing what it know how to do best by way of the allegations that were “outlandish, embarrassing and contemptible.”
The statement titled, ‘Lagos PDP Leaders Are Charlatans To Be Ignored” read in part, “We received with shock the unfortunate statement issued by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Lagos State, on the new parking policy in the state. The opposition party, in its attempt to curry the sentiments of the people of Lagos and in its characteristic manner, made allegations that are outlandish, embarrassing, and contemptible.
“It should be noted that in the effort of the Lagos State Government to respond to the growing need for regulation of chaotic parking in the state, it enacted a law establishing the Lagos State Parking Authority- LASPA.
“With an estimated 1.2 million registered vehicles, about 224 vehicles per kilometer of road space and a population of over 24 million people, Lagos State surely needs a sustainable statewide parking policy to complement the renewed urban development plan and the ever competing needs for space especially in the city activity centers and Central Business Districts.”
Oladejo went on quoting statistics by the Federal Road Safety Corps revealing that, “there are more than 13 million active vehicles plying Nigerian roads today. Out of that figure, more than 2 million cars are in Lagos. About 10% of the cars require parking each day.
“The visionary drive of the successive Lagos State Governments which has seen Lagos State gradually emerging as a true 21st Century city state, with burgeoning economy, first class infrastructure, and service support systems is obviously beyond the impaired contemplation of the PDP. What occurs to PDP in its renowned shortsightedness is politics and money making.
“In a most ridiculous manner, the opposition party is rather seeing an opportunity to pool a wool over the eyes of the people of the state, pretending to have any altruistic interest in their wellbeing. It is easy for the discerning people of this state to see beyond the hypocritical sympathy of PDP. Otherwise, if the leadership of PDP had any such genuine concern for Lagosians, it should be demonstrated towards alleviating the untold hardship many people of the state are facing on the road on daily basis.
“It bears repeating for the information of the general public that LASPA or any of its staffers or agents will not charge on cars parked in any compound. However, any car parked on the setback, such person, organization or group of persons will be charged accordingly.”
Oladejo concluded saying, “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 authorised 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.
For the avoidance of doubt, the main duty of LASPA is to regulate parking to reduce traffic gridlock caused by indiscriminate parking, reduce travel time, loss of productive manhours and economic downtime which when multiplied by average wage rate amounts to billions of naira and reduce incessant road accidents. These are by far noble objectives geared towards making Lagos conducive for all residents. We, therefore, enjoin Lagosians to ignore the charlatans currently running PDP in the state and teem up with LASPA in achieving the objective of making our road free of gridlock.”
