The Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike has declared the On-street Parking scheme, popularly known as ‘Park and Pay’ in the nation’s capital, Abuja as illegal.
Wike disclosed this during a live media chat on Wednesday in Abuja as part of his first anniversary in office.
The scheme which was first introduced about a decade ago, was suspended following public outcry. It was however reintroduced in August last year, just few days before Wike assumed office as minister.
The minister who also frowned at the sharing formula which is skewed against the Administration, explained that while the Consultant takes 80 percent of the proceeds, the FCT Administration takes the remaining 20 percent.
According to him, “I was away, a colleague of mine, a friend of mine called me, he is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria SAN. He said ‘sir, people came to our office now trying to hijack all our cars and that they said they were from the Transport Secretariat’. I said, what is that? I said give the person the phone. I said who are you and he said from Park and Pay. I said what do you mean by Park and Pay? I park in my house and I pay? I called the Mandate Secretary of Transport Secretariat. I said, come, who introduced the Park and Pay? What does it mean? Who collects the money?
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“Unknown to us, there was an agreement between the Secretariat and some people who say they are consultants. Consultants? I said okay, consultant takes 80 percent and the government takes 20 percent? I said okay, where is this money paid into? I said, draft a statement and call the Director. Press, send out the statement that the public should be aware that there is nothing called Park and Pay. So, sometimes, these things are done in convince with the various Secretariats. I was a governor. So, I know that these things happen and we won’t deny that fact”, he stated.
Wike declared such activities illegal and assured that immediate steps would be taken to eradicate the ‘Park and Pay’ operation. He added, “I’m trying to say that it’s illegal, and nothing like that exists. And if my colleague hadn’t called me, I wouldn’t have known.”
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