Lagos parking defaulters owe N500m – LASPA

The General Manager, Lagos State Parking Authority, Adebisi Adelabu, has said the agency will begin enforcing against organisations and businesses defaulting on parking fee payments by the end of September.

Briefing journalists on Tuesday at the agency’s office in Ikeja, Adelabu said parking fee defaulters in the state owed between N400m and N500m as of last year.

She said the agency had initially planned to begin the enforcement earlier but decided to intensify advocacy to give businesses and other organisations more opportunity to comply.

According to her, the decision to delay enforcement was aimed at ensuring that defaulters could not claim ignorance of their obligations.

Adelabu said 2025 was unusual for the agency because of internal restructuring.

She said, “Last year, I think we had about N400m or N500m in defaulters. Last year was an unusual year for us. Also, there was a lot of restructuring that we wanted to do.”

Adelabu said that while the agency made a giant stride in its first full operating year, it was hoping to triple the amount in 2027.

“We made over N1bn in our first full operating year. We’re hoping that by next year, we should be able to triple that.

“We just want Lagosians to continue to partner with us. Pay your dues, let’s create the greater Lagos we all dream of,” she said.

She maintained that payment of parking fees was not a new requirement, explaining that businesses had previously made payments to local governments before LASPA took over the responsibility.

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“Paying for parking is not new. Payments were made to the local government before we came to take on that responsibility,” Adelabu said.

She warned that businesses that fail to pay their outstanding fees could face enforcement, including shutdown of businesses.

“Enforcement is anything from clamping to towing. We also have the right to close the business. We’ll apply through the courts, and get that done,” Adelabu said.

However, she said the agency preferred compliance to punitive measures.

“We want businesses to thrive. Lagos thrives because you can come, you can dream, and you can succeed,” Adelabu said.

She urged businesses to treat parking payments as part of their annual financial obligations.

“There are companies that, even before we send a demand notice, they have paid. So, why should we have companies that have to be subjected to embarrassment before they would think they need to pay?” she asked.

Adelabu expressed concern that some of the defaulters were not small businesses but multinational companies and large corporations.

“These are not one-man businesses or SMEs. Some of them are multinationals. Some of them are corporations. Why would you not want to pay? I’ve never been able to understand it,” she said.

According to the LASPA GM, the agency is also preparing to expand on-street parking and introduce technology that would enable motorists to identify recognised parking spaces and make cashless payments.