Somtochukwu

#EndSARS: N2.5bn lost to 95-day Lekki tollgate closure

The Lagos State Government has lost at least N2.5bn in projected revenue due to the closure of the Lekki toll plaza and the Ikoyi Link Bridge toll plaza in the last 95 days, The PUNCH has learnt.

The figure was obtained from the daily and monthly targets set for the tollgates by the Lagos State Government, which owns the tollgates but is being managed by the Lekki Concession Company.

The Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge is expected to generate about N10m daily, while the Lekki toll plaza is not expected to generate less than N16.6m a day.

This implies that the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge has lost N950m, while the Lekki toll plaza has lost N1.5bn.

This newspaper reported on October 19, 2020 that N234m was lost during the closure of the tollgates in the first nine days of the #EndSARS protest against police brutality.

Following the violent turn the protest took after it was hijacked by hoodlums, the tollgates had remained open.

The Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution set up by the Lagos State Government to investigate cases of brutality and human rights violations committed by operatives of the dissolved Special Anti-Robbery Squad ordered that the tollgates should not operate until hearings were concluded.

The Managing Director, LCC, Mr Abayomi Omomuwa, told the panel that he could not say how much the toll gates had lost.

The counsel for the Lagos State Government at the panel, Olukayode Enitan, made an application for the reopening of the Lekki Toll plaza for repairs and insurance.

However, Justice Doris Okuwobi (retd.), who heads the panel, adjourned the matter till January 29 for further consideration of the application of the LCC.

A Lagos State commissioner, however, told our correspondent that the Lekki-Ikoyi Link Bridge was expected to generate about N10m daily, while the tollgate along the Lekki-Epe Expressway was expected to generate about N16.6m daily.

According to the commissioner, the Ikoyi Link Bridge generates about N300m per month, while the tollgate along the Lekki-Epe Expressway generates about N500m monthly.

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