THIS LEKKI TOLL GATE MUST NOT STAND

We, the Lagos Progressives Movement recently released a publication on the proposed tolling of the Lekki-Epe expressway.  The publication titled: Gov Fashola and the Lekki Road scam- was widely published in the print media and online (see ThisDay of March 24, 2010 and postings online in forum such as Nairaland.com, etc) and attracted widespread interest and comments. It was these publications that increased the tempo of protest and agitation by Lagosians in general and concerned Lekki residents in particular.  Since then, there have been  protests, agitations and legal action instituted by aggrieved and concerned residents.  These has led to the direct involvement of the Lagos State Government which set up a committee to look at issues raised by the residents, and series of public relations activities by the concessionaire to pacify the residents.

It is obvious that the protests and agitation by concerned Lagosians notwithstanding, the concessionaire is hell bent in commencing the tolling and has made elaborate arrangement and preparation for the take-off.  Presently, it has posted officials at each booth to take daily traffic count statistics and monitor and observe reaction of people in vehicles and buses as a prelude to take-off of the scheme. The toll plaza is now fully equipped and ready for use.

It is this development that has made it necessary for us once again to reiterate our stand on behalf of millions of Lagosians that the tolling of Lekki road is a major fraud and will not serve the interest of generality of Lagosians and therefore must not stand.  For the benefit of those who missed our earlier publications, we herewith reproduced the salient points below:

1.  The Lekki-Epe express road was initially constructed by the Jakande administration and completed by the Mudashiru and Mike Akhigbe military administrations in 1987.  The entire Lekki axis was then opened up for rapid development.  Between 1985 and now, the corridor has been experiencing rapid and unprecedented urban growth as hundreds of new communities, developments and estates have developed which drew large population of low and middle income Lagosians.

2.    The Tinubu administration realizing the urgent need to address the fast growing problem of road congestion conceived the idea of the expansion of the existing express road into a six-lane roadway, the construction of an alternate coastal road that will run from Ahmadu Bello way in Bar Beach, along the shores of the Atlantic ocean towards Ibeju-Lekki Local Government area. The third leg was the construction of a fourth mainland bridge, from Langbasa area near Ajah across the Lagos Lagoon to Ikorodu town and detouring somewhere to join the existing third mainland bridge thereby forming a circular road around Lagos.

3.  The government then enacted the Public-Private Sector (PPP) Act as a vehicle to attract private sector participation in these and other viable projects within the state. This was indeed a welcome development which was expected to usher in the rapid development of much needed infrastructure in the Lagos metropolis.  No one expected a few selfish politicians and contractors to take advantage of this for their selfish interest and at the expense of the people.

4.  The selfish desire of a few individuals led to the establishment of The Lekki Concession Company (LCC) by a consortium which included a former governor, an investment company and a major contractor of the state government who became the chairman.  The contractor was recently arrested and questioned by the EFCC in connection with the allegations of corruption made against Governor Fashola.

5.    LCC was awarded the concession without due process. That is with no advertisement for concessionaires, no open bidding process etc.  The agreement with LCC was hurriedly signed in 2006 and it immediately embarked on raising the required funds for the project as described in paragraph 2. As part of the agreement, LCC requested for hectares of prime land as part contribution of the state government to the project.  This was immediately granted and the Certificate of Occupancy released within weeks for 1,000 hectares of prime state land at Awoyaya, Abijo, Eputu and Sapati all in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area (Part of the land is now being developed as ADIVA housing and golf course project by the investment company who is also a major part of the concession). LCC was also granted a 30-year concession to toll the Lekki express road and the 4th mainland bridge while the coastal road would serve as the non-toll alternate road.

6.    The project as was originally conceived was later jettisoned after obtaining the hectares of land and other payments from the state government and in its place a scaled-down part- the rehabilitation of the existing Lekki expressway was adopted by the consortium.  There is no basis for a toll road and 30-year concession arrangement for a mere rehabilitation and expansion of an existing road which the government could afford on its own.

10.  LCC was given a 30-year concession with no functional regulatory body in place to monitor critical aspects of the concession agreement like the scope, toll charges, alternate roads, etc. With no checks in place, the concessionaire had a field day.  It immediately dropped the coastal road and the 4th mainland bridge projects and concentrated only on the Lekki-Epe road project.

7.    Indeed, the Federal Government under President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote to Governor Tinubu in 2006, offering to construct the coastal road free of charge to Lagos and its people from the Lekki Free Trade Zone to Ahmadu Bello Way in VI.  He also sent a letter of commitment written by a Chinese construction firm to that effect.  Governor Tinubu firmly rejected this offer and instead opted for Lagos State and the concessionaire to jointly fund the project under the PPP arrangement.

8.  Former President Obasanjo made the offer so as not to unduly burdened the people with tolling of the road.  Yet former Gov Tinubu rejected the offer. Obasanjo thereafter withheld approval for a sovereign guaranty requested by the financiers.  This guaranty was later approved by Late President Yara'adua after pressure was mounted on him by the incumbent governor.

12.  The 49.4km two-phased project was awarded to Hitech Construction company- a company owned partly by the famous Lebanese family of Chagouris and in which a former governor owns substantial interest without due process.  The contract was initially awarded at a cost of N50 billion which the innocent citizens and particularly the residents and indigenous communities within the areas will cough out over the next 30 years while  the concessionaire, the construction company and their collaborating politicians will be smiling to the bank.  A simple arithmetic shows that cost of construction averages N1billion per 1km.  This excludes the 1,000 hectares of land and other costs already incurred by the Lagos state government. This must be the most expensive road anywhere in the world.   Meanwhile, the concessionaire plans to install 3 toll plazas in a 50km stretch!

13.  Already, the rehabilitation work which started in 2006 has only achieved less than 5km in almost 4 years.  This has exposed the incompetence of the contractor and the concessionaire.  It has also shown that they do not possess the financial capability to finance the project.  Their plan has always been to use the tolls collected from the first phase to finance the rest of the project. The consortium has only concentrated on building the toll plazas rather than first completing the two phases for the convenience of residents. Residents in these areas sometimes spend more than 6 hours daily on the road particularly during the rainy season. 

14.  The entire Lekki axis hosts millions of indigenous people who are fishermen and farmers and have occupied their lands for centuries.  They are largely poor and agrarian from villages like Ajah, Badore, Elegushi, Ajiran, Sangotedo, Abijo, Ibeju, and all communities in Eti-osa, Epe and Ibeju-Lekki Local Government areas. These indigenous people along with others living in the area are now about to be forced to pay toll to enter and exit their fatherland. 

15. It is noteworthy that the Lagos State Government have little or no social or economic infrastructure to boast of in the Lekki axis.  There is no general hospital, no public library, no city or town hall, no university, polytechnic or any other tertiary institution. There is no low income public housing scheme( other than those built by the Jakande administration in the 80's).  Lekki and it's environs have no sporting or recreational facility, no public transportation scheme like BRT, no public water system etc.  Almost all developments have been through the sweat of the people and private initiatives.  The only thing the state government and the political leadership have done is to exploit the wealth of the people by selling off their land to themselves. The people have been deprived of their land and beaches and overtaxed through exorbitant land charges, building approval charges and now the planned toll charges on their road.

The fraudulent nature of this project cannot be over-emphasized.  We highlight below a summary of some of the objectionable and questionable aspects of this transaction for the benefit of Lagosians:
 
(a)     LCC was appointed and the agreement signed without conforming with due process.  There was no public bidding process, no competing bids from other consortium and the fact that a former Governor have substantial personal interest in the concession company and the construction company is criminal in nature.

(c)   LCC plans to collect toll from the taxpayers of Lagos over the next 30 years.  The amount to be collected was not subject to any negotiation by any regulatory agency.  Which means it is arbitrary and could be changed without notice anytime through the duration of the 30 year lease.

(d).  There is no plan yet to develop the coastal road or any other non-toll road as alternate to the tolling of Lekki road.  LCC recently announced that the Oniru estate road will serve as alternate road.  This is a fraudulent claim by LCC meant to deceive the public.  The Oniru estate road is a private estate road not suitable for large traffic and was constructed to serve as internal road for the estate residents.  This cannot be an alternate road for millions of people in that corridor.  LCC must comply with the agreement signed to provide standard alternate road(s) along the Lekki corridor for the benefit of the people before they should start tolling the Lekki road.

(e) Landowners and prospective builders of homes are being charged heavily as infrastructural charge, land use charge, building approval charge and personal income tax and are now required to pay road tax or toll. This is multiple taxation in its worst form.

 (f)   Fences are being built around the toll areas to box residents within the area. This has security and safety implications.  If there is a major emergency where residents have to be evacuated in a hurry; there will be major massive bottleneck at the toll plaza as there is no other escape route except through the lagoon or Atlantic Ocean. Remember the Oke-Afa mass drowning incident of 2002.   God forbid!

 (f)   The owners of LCC have also received cash payments and land grants from Lagos state government in addition to the 30-year toll.  These payments and land grants were initially made under the agreement that the 4th mainland bridge-Lekki road-coastal road would be built.  It is therefore criminal to obtain compensation for a project only to turn around and reduce the scope.

(g). The contractor and the concessionaire have demonstrated high level of incompetence and greed and have shown that they lack financial capacity to handle the project.  The quality of the work done so far is suspect and have expended so much resources on the toll plaza alone. This shows their real intention is to use the toll collected to fund the rest of the project.

In view of the above, we call on the government to immediately stop the tolling of the Lekki road until an alternate road is built and ready for use. It should also direct the LCC to remove the toll plaza immediately as it constitutes a bottleneck to free flow of traffic and a source of dangerous impediment to residents in case of emergency.

We also call on the residents and citizens of Lekki, Ajah, Ajiran, Badore, Ibeju, Abijo, Sangotedo, Epe and other communities within these areas to ignore the delay tactics and divide and rule strategy of government, and continue the agitation through peaceful and legal means for the discontinuation of the toll system. This government should take note that no amount of committee report and other time-wasting and face-saving tactics will change the people's resolve to get the TOLL PLAZA REMOVED UNTIL A  STANDARD ALTERNATE ROAD IS BUILT FOR THE ENTIRE AREA.

We, The Lagos Progressives Movement will continue our agitation for good governance for the benefit of all Lagosians

Wale Onilere Esq
Coordinator, Lagos Progressives Movement

lagosprogressives@yahoo.com

@op, u should have been honest in posting the link or site the write up was lifted or copied from for reference sake

There is no link or site. We are the Lagos Progressives and I am the coordinator. This is our own publication for Nairalanders and other interested persons on line to sensitize them on the wickedness and greed of both Tinubu and Fashola

In as much as i like your posting i am not in support of your argument. All over the world people pay for toll it is only in Nigeria that everything has turn to politics. If we want development we must be ready to encourage this kind of infrastructure development, nigeria like free thing, they want water for free, light for free and road also for free and that is why we are left behind in terms of development

LOL and you want to drive on good roads, why didnt you start resisting before Lekki Concession began repairing the road, and you were aware there will be a toll. RUBBISH!

What's wrong with paying toll? You want development yet not willing to pull out your wallet. Shut up fool. Be thankful you've at least got one honest politician in the whole of Nigeria -- Fashola. Let him do his thing.