Delivering judgment in a suit filed
against the state government by a lawyer, Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, the judge said
there is no law in Lagos
State authorizing the
collection of toll on the bridge by the government.
He said although the Federal
Government has given some authority to the state to construct the bridge, there
is no law authorizing or permitting the collection of toll fee on it.
Justice Saidu said: “The bridge is
not a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiative for which the collection of
toll can be allowed. The question is: Has the third respondent, Lagos State
government, made appropriate law to enable it collect toll on the bridge?
“The third respondent only cited
Section 27, 28 and 29 of the Lagos State PPP Law, 2011 as making provision for
collection of toll. There is nothing before me to show that the subject matter
in this case was as a result of the PPP Law.
“The fact before this court is that
the bridge was built with the third respondent’s money. I uphold the
construction of this bridge as of right. The third respondent has power to
generate revenue from the subject matter, but the existing law does not cover
it. Before the state can collect toll on the bridge, an enabling law must be in
place.”
Attorney-General/Commissioner for
Justice Ade Ipaye said the state would appeal the judgment.
Addressing reporters at Alausa,
Ipaye said the claimant never sought a declaration that there was no law to
cover the collection of tolls on the bridge.
Ipaye said Section 29 of the state’s
Public Private Partnerships (PPP) Law allows it to collect toll on any public
infrastructure.
He said the court’s pronouncement
was out of place and was not one of the nine declarations sought by the
applicant.
Ipaye said the judgment by Justice
Saliu Saidu contained, at least, two fundamental errors, adding: “We are,
therefore, filing an appeal as well as an application for stay of execution.”
Ipaye said the court was wrong in
holding that the N10 million payment made by Julius Berger to the Nigerian
Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) before building the bridge amounted to a
concession that NIWA was the only authority to regulate the inland waterways in
Nigeria.
He said: “With utmost respect for
his Lordship, the Lagos
State government never
made such concession. The payment of N 10million was made by our contractor
when NIWA was stalling the multi-billion naira project. In fact, we expressly
indicated to the court that we filed the proof of payment by our contractor
without prejudice to our very comprehensive arguments on the right of the state
to control its inland waterways. It was not a concession to the applicant’s
claim.
“There is no constitutional
requirement that for any tolling, there must be a separate law backing it.
Tolls chargeable under the law can clearly be on any public infrastructure or
asset, not necessarily on those built with private sector partnership. In any
case, the maintenance and tolling of the bridge is, in fact, by a private
sector company to which a concession was granted by the state government.
“The judgment did not specifically
address many of the questions raised by the applicants; neither did it grant
any of the declarations sought. No order was made. However, the pronouncements
are capable of being interpreted as court orders, hence our decision to appeal
and seek a stay of execution immediately.”
Adegboruwa said: “For now, everybody
in Lagos State should be free to pass through
that bridge without paying any money. It was built with the peoples’ money. We
cannot pay tax to build a bridge and pay money to use it. It was not built
through concession.
“The court said they cannot apply
the PPP Law to a bridge that was built with state funds. This judgment is a
warning to all statutory and government agencies, because our people are
burdened. The economy is bad. On behalf of the people of Nigeria, we
must continue to challenge impunity and taxes that have no backing. We are
going ahead to challenge other taxes imposed on our people.”
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