#EndSARS: Lagos lost N2.5billion to Lekki tollgate closure in 95 days

The Lagos State Government may have lost more than N2.5billion in its projected revenue due to the closure of the Lekki toll plaza and the Ikoyi Link Bridge toll plaza in the last 95 days.

According to The PUNCH, the figure was obtained from the daily and monthly targets set for the tollgates by the Lagos State Government, which owns the tollgates though put under the management of 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.

Following the violent turn the protest took after it was hijacked by hoodlums, the toll gates 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 tollgates 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 noted 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.