Abuja’s mismanaged park-and-pay policy

The judge ordered the policy to be stopped because there was no law backing its operation. Coming hard on the heels of the Federal High Court judgment restraining the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) from forcing motorists to purchase new number plates without an enabling law, the park-and-pay ruling illustrates the penchant of government agencies […]

The judge ordered the policy to be stopped because there was no law backing its operation. Coming hard on the heels of the Federal High Court judgment restraining the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) from forcing motorists to purchase new number plates without an enabling law, the park-and-pay ruling illustrates the penchant of government agencies to emphasise revenue collection over public safety and convenience. The increasing number of instances in which courts have declared government actions illegal is disconcerting. This is not the way government is meant to function.
In compliance with the court’s order, the FCT administration suspended the policy.  Not surprisingly, near-chaos has returned to the streets of Abuja because regulation has been suspended. There is no question that Abuja needs a parking policy for the orderly conduct of motorists.  However, this policy must be properly implemented and in a practicable manner. The parking problem in the city has been compounded by the fact that offices and shopping complexes are constructed without adequate parking facilities, forcing clients and staff members to park vehicles in a disorderly way on the streets and pavements. Under the now-suspended policy, motorists who parked at any designated location were required to pay between fifty and five hundred naira, depending of the length of time the vehicle would occupy the allotted space. One of the major sources of disaffection was that workers were charged up to five hundred naira a day to park their vehicles while at work.  In the absence of an effective government mass transit system, the inadequate and inefficient public transport system in the city is not an alternative for many to owning a personal means of locomotion.  
Public relief that greeted the suspension of the policy reflects a rejection of the coercive, and sometimes extortive, nature of its implementation. Contracted to private firms, the operators always did not have any change to give customers. Moreover, motorists were required to make an estimate of the amount of time they would spend in a location and pay the fee in advance, and unrealistic step because no change is given if the time spent is shorter than the period for which fee had been paid. On the other hand, motorists suffered the inconvenience of having their vehicles towed if they exceed the time, with the prospect of paying up to 50,000 naira to retrieve them, or the financial loss of not receiving any refund if they did not use up the time. It seemed vehicles were being clamped on as a revenue generation exercise rather than for any infringement, with no avenue for appeal.  The value cards that were supposed to enable motorists pay for parking in advance by purchasing monthly vouchers at a discount, confused many because these were valid only in certain areas only and not applicable throughout the city centre.
These are some of the issues that need to be sorted out before a new park-and-pay policy is introduced. Abuja is among the fastest developing capital cities in the world; as such it needs a more sophisticated automated pay system for the parking public. Parking meters erected in designated spots, and the provision tokens to be purchased from banks and other designated outlets are options that should be considered.  The judicial ruling threw up the question of what the responsible organ is for making laws for the FCT; a bye-law by the Municipal Council, or the order of the minister of the FCT. Clearly though, the FCT Minister cannot unilaterally make laws when he has no legislative powers.   This issue must be resolved as soon as possible to enable parking sanity to return to FCT.