IT was a bright Tuesday morning when The ICIR met Omogbolahon Ganiu at the Ojodu Berger park.

He had just begun the day’s job and was running a routine check on his car. A tired bus conductor was sleeping on one of the four seats on his 16-seater long bus. An expression of surprise marked his face when The ICIR asked him if he had paid the new daily N800 levy the Lagos State government imposed on transporters in the state.

Collection of the levy was supposed to take off on February 1, 2022, but Ganiu had not even heard of the development.

Looking rather distraught at the news, Ganiu prayed the government to reconsider its stance.

He said, “Vehicle parts and oils are very expensive. A small keg of engine oil used to be N500, now it’s N1,000. The somewhat bigger one is N2000. If we want to do some servicing, that oil is N6,500. All these things don’t make Nigeria liveable.”

His prayer is not likely to be answered. The ICIR learnt that the levy collection, which did not start on February 1 as announced, is likely to commence next Monday.

The Lagos State government had, on Tuesday, January 18, 2022, introduced a daily ₦800 Consolidated Informal Transport Levy for transporters in the state. This levy is apart from the dues the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) forcefully collect daily from commercial vehicle drivers.

The government levy is expected to harmonise dues it collects from the drivers at parks and garages across the state. It is also expected to reduce multiple taxation.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Finance Rabiu Olowo was quoted as explaining that the levy, pegged at a flat rate of N800, covered money for not just the local government levy alone, but also that of clearing waste from motor parks, which was being paid to the Ministry of Transportation, Lagos State Waste Management Authority and Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency. Olowo added that once a transporter paid the ₦800 at a point, they would not expected to pay at any other park or bus stop throughout the day.

The new levy is real bad news for commercial vehicle drivers. The ICIR conducted an investigation between January 31 and February 1, 2022 in parks at Ojodu Berger, Ogba, Agege and Ikeja, speaking to transporters on what they feared would be the effects of this levy on their business.

Another driver in the same park where Ganiu operates, Lukman Owoyemi, computed his daily earnings against the many dues he said he was compelled to pay.

“The union here collects N1,500. We carry 13 passengers, which translates to N7,800. The government wants to take N800. After buying petrol for the vehicle, how much is left? We buy fuel on a daily basis. We make N3,000 on a trip. So let’s add the whole thing: union dues, N1500; petrol, N2000; state levy, N800. That’s N4,300 as expenses.

“At Oshodi, there is always traffic jam. Some union guys are usually at Oshodi waiting for us. Then the vehicle can have any problem. It can break down; I was in such a dilemma yesterday. If I returned the passengers’ money, how much would be left? Sometimes, we have to settle the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and other officers. We could spend up to N15,000 on such illegal settlements. The state government needs to rethink this,” Owoyemi said.

Fares to increase

At Ogba, commercial tricycle (keke Marwa) riders posited that fares were likely to go up if the new levy stayed. An ICIR check around the axis revealed that NURTW enforcers, known in local parlance as ‘agbero,’ would collect the sum of N1,600 from each commercial tricycle operator.

An operator, Uche Odor, said, “That money is too much. When you pay agbero N1,600 and pay the government N800, how much do we take home? It is passengers who will suffer.”

Shehuyinka:

https://www.icirnigeria.org/lagos-n800-transport-levy-scheme-fails-to-kick-off-on-february-1/

joyandfaith:
If state like lagos being centre of excellence cannot introduce effective park management system and remove agberos from parks and roads we are doomed as a nation. Oyo State is using PMS now and I think motorists prefer that, though not perfect. It is a shame on Tinubu and his goons.

Teslaa:


Oyo state PMS is still controlled by the NURTW (auxiliary & co)

Hisbah21:
paying levy or tax is not the problem,but will the money been utilized? or will it go back to some elites pocket