The Park and Pay Policy, which was introduced by the Federal Capital Territory Administration in January 2012, has, since inception, been swimming in controversies.
Some will argue that the occasional demolition exercises in parts of the territory qualifies as the most controversial government policy in recent years, but the ire ignited by the Park and Pay Policy appears to have been more widespread. The reason is that while the former affects a limited size of the Abuja population, the majority of the residents feel the impact of the latter.
An average Abuja resident pays N100 for every hour he parks his vehicle within designated parking slots on various roads, streets and neighbourhoods within the city, from Monday to Friday.
While many residents would believe that these figures constitute a substantial strain on their already limited resources, their plight is made even worse by the fact that besides the regular parking fees, they are also likely to spend much more as a result of heavy monetary penalties attached to the policy.
Failure to pay the fee before parking, or inability to move the vehicle before the expiration of a parking ticket, attracts a fine of N5000, as well as the clamping of the vehicle.
Should the owner fail to pay the N5000 fine, and thereby effect the removal of the clamp, the vehicle would be towed to the office of the parking operator, where the penalty is a N10,000 fine — which must be paid before the vehicle could be released from the premises.
The strategies being applied by the parking officers to collect fees and issue tickets means that an average resident is, more often than not, likely to ‘flout’ the parking rules and thereby attract a penalty.
Most times, the officers hide from sight the moment the motorist is parking the vehicle, making it impossible for the victim to obtain a parking ticket. Most times, a motorist would, cash-in-hand, unsuccessfully search for the parking officers in a bid to pay the necessary fees before leaving the vehicle in the slot.
But once the motorist turns his back, the relevant official would emerge from the blues and immediately summon his colleagues, who would arrive with the dreaded clamps, which are usually yellow in colour.
Pleading that he was willing to pay but did not see anyone to pay to would not stop him from paying the N5000 fine, and if in the process of pleading, he delays and the vehicle is then towed to the office of the parking operator, he has to pay N10,000 before he can secure it.
Vehicles are also towed even without the knowledge of their owners, leaving them to go through anxious moments as they wonder whether the vehicle had been towed away or stolen.
Some parking officers are known to call for the clamps once a motorist’s ticket expires, and in some instances, the car owner, who is rushing back to either renew the paper or leave the vicinity, would arrive to meet the officers clamping his car.
Such scenarios play out on a daily basis in Abuja road and streets. But the problem associated with the policy is illustrated by the fact that on several occasions, vehicle owners have resorted to fisticuffs to vent their frustration on the parking operators.
Probably, the FCTA did not anticipate the level of opposition that would trail the policy, which, it said, it introduced in order to generate revenue and reduce vehicular gridlock that has become the bane of the city due to its rising population.
It is believed that the parking operators — companies which the FCTA commissioned to operate the Park and Pay Policy — make between N1m and N1.2m on a daily basis. The general belief among Abuja residents is that the policy is nothing short of a form of extortion.
This position informed the stiff nature of the resistance which the policy had attracted among many FCT residents. Now, the resistance to the policy has taken a new turn as some people have dragged the FCTA and the Minister, Bala Mohammed, to court to challenge it.
In one of such cases, a resident, Mr. Innocent Owu, a lawyer, asked an Abuja High Court to declare that the policy was illegal on the grounds that the FCTA lacked the powers to make the laws by which it introduced it. The suit, with number FCT/HC/CV/2702/12, was filed on behalf of Iwu by his counsel, Armstrong Ukwuoma.
The plaintiff argued that by virtue of sections 4(6), (7); 299(a)(b)(c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, the legislative powers to make laws for the FCT is vested exclusively in the National Assembly.
Furthermore, the plaintiff maintained that, going by the provisions of sections 4(6),(7); 299(a)(b)(c) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, the FCTA lacked the powers to collect any tax, fee or rate – including fee, or charges for parking of cars within the streets and roads of the FCT, Abuja – without an Act of the National Assembly prescribing such a tax, fees or charges.
Also, the plaintiff averred that the action of the FCTA, in collecting N100 each hour for cars parked within the streets and roads of the FCT, Abuja, was inhumane, considering the state social order provided for in section 17 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
The plaintiff further argued that the action of the FCTA was an infringement on residents’ fundamental human rights to own moveable property.
He asked the court for several reliefs, including a declaration that, by virtue of sections 4(6), (7); 299(a)(b)(c) of the 1999 Constitution, the powers to make laws for the FCT, Abuja, prescribing, imposing and providing for the collection of any tax, fee or rate is vested exclusively in the National Assembly, and, as such, the FCTA is not constitutionally empowered to prescribe, impose or provide for the collection of any tax, fee or rate without an Act of the National Assembly.
The resident also asked the court to declare that the action of the FCTA, in collecting any fee for vehicles parked in the streets and roads of the FCT, Abuja is unlawful, illegal, and unconstitutional, and also inhumane and runs contrary to the fundamental social order objectives of the Nigerian State as entrenched in section 17 of the 1999 Constitution.
The plaintiff finally asked the court for an order restraining the FCTA from further levying, collecting or charging any fees or payments for cars parked in the streets and roads of the FCT, Abuja.
But the FCTA and its minister, in a joint counter affidavit, insisted that it has the powers to impose the parking fees on Abuja residents. In the affidavit deposed to by Sai’du Wodi of its Legal Services Secretariat, the FCTA argued that the action was in line with the Road Traffic Act Cap 548 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990 (Abuja Laws) (now Cap 548, Vol. 4 Laws of the Federal Capital Territory 2005), which made the Federal Capital Territory Road Transport and Motor Vehicle Administration Regulations 2005, which was in volume 92 of the Federal Government Official Gazette on December 30, 2005.
The FCTA said its action was not a violation of any resident’s fundamental rights as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.
Source: Punch
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