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• It is unfair, say concerned residents
Lagos State Government has raised the 2020 revenue target of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) by about 150 per cent.
Findings by The Guardian revealed that the revenue target for LASTMA in the last two years, 2018 and 2019, had stood at about N600 million yearly. The revenue target for 2020 was, however, raised to N1.5 billion.
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It was not clear what informed the government’s decision to raise the revenue target by 150 per cent.
Nonetheless, in 2016 and 2017, the revenue target of LASTMA stood at N1.05 billion and N1.3 billion respectively. It was probably brought down when the last administration asked that officers of the agency should concentrate energy on controlling traffic rather than exert energy on looking for traffic offenders.
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However, a resident, John Adebayo, said the governor does not have the masses at heart because if he does, he would not drastically jack up the revenue target for an agency like LASTMA.
Also, Chairman, Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Mr. Debo Adeniran, stated that giving LASTMA such target is setting them against road users in Lagos.
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Meanwhile, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Gboyega Akosile, when contacted for his response to the increase in revenue target for LASTMA, said: “Since they (LASTMA) needed more personnel and other equipment, the Budget and Economic Planning Ministry now challenged them that if they want government to give them the things they need, they should be able to perform better in their revenue drive.”
According to him, that was what led to the increase in the revenue target.
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