The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has described the ‘Park and Pay’ scheme as fraudulent and illegal.
Wike made his position on the controversial policy known on Wednesday during a media briefing to mark his first year in office as the FCT Minister.
He said: “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 per cent, and the government takes 20 per cent?’
“Where is this 20 per cent 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.
Recall that the controversial scheme was introduced in 2014, stopped following a court order and reintroduced in 2023 after the FCT administration signed a whopping N908.3 billion agreement with concessionaires NAJEC Limited and Messrs Automaten Technik Bauman Nigeria Limited, with an estimated N26.93 billion revenue for a 10-year term each.
However, the minister said he was unaware of the reintroduced scheme, expressing disatisfaction that the agreement had stipulated an 80 per cent payback to the contractors, with only 20 per cent of payment to be remitted to the FCDA.
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