The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has declared the On-Street Parking scheme, also known as the ‘Park-and-Pay’ scheme, to be illegal. He cited fraud in the contract agreement between the managing contractors and the FCT administration.
Wike made this announcement during a media briefing on Wednesday, August 21, marking his first year in office. The scheme, originally introduced in 2014 and reintroduced in 2023, involved a contract signed by the FCT administration with concessionaires NAJEC Limited and Messrs Automaten Technik Bauman Nigeria Limited.
The agreement, valued at N908.3 billion, was expected to generate an estimated N26.93 billion in revenue over a 10-year term for each concessionaire.
The reintroduction of the scheme was endorsed by the then Permanent Secretary of the FCT, Olusade Adesola, who signed the agreement in August 2023. Adesola stated that the scheme was supported by the six area councils and aimed to promote orderliness and organization in the city.
However, Wike claimed he was unaware of the scheme’s reintroduction. He revealed that the agreement required an 80 percent payback to the contractors, leaving only 20 percent of the total revenue for the administration.
Wike emphasized that he had instructed the release of a public statement to inform residents that the scheme was illegal and that they should not be required to pay for parking in front of their businesses or homes. He recounted a conversation with a senior advocate who reported attempts by individuals from the Transport Secretariat to enforce the scheme.
Wike described his inquiries: “A colleague of mine, a senior advocate, called me and said, ‘Sir, people came to the office now, trying to hijack all our cars.’ He said they were from the Transport Secretariat. I said, ‘Give the person the phone.’ I asked, ‘Who are you? What are you doing?’ He said, ‘Park and Pay.’ I replied, ‘What do you mean by Park and Pay? I park a car in my house, and I pay?’
“I called the Transport Secretariat and the Mandate Secretary. I asked who introduced this Park and Pay scheme and what it meant. Who collects the money? It turned out there were agreements between the (Transport) Secretariat and some individuals who claimed to be consultants. Then I asked, ‘Consultants take 80 percent, and the government takes 20 percent?’
“Where is this 20 percent being paid to the government? I instructed that a statement be drafted. I called the Director of Press and said, ‘Send out a statement informing the public that there is no such thing as Park and Pay. It is illegal. That’s what I’m trying to convey,’” he said.
Wike also revealed that such contracts were often arranged in collusion with secretariats within the administration.
He underscored his commitment to minimizing corruption, stating: “The point I’m making is that, no matter how you shuffle things, you still have civil servants working with you. It is not easy, but you try as much as possible to reduce it to the bare minimum. But we must continue to fight hard.”
