Nigeria Content Online

Last
week, residents of the Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State
took to the streets to protest the plan by the state government to
impose tolls for passage into the Lekki area.

No doubt, the gut
reaction to this move would be support from the general public. An
peaceful attempt by citizens to protest oppressive or thoughtless acts
of government is most welcome in any democracy that hopes to thrive –
and on the face of it, this civil action is as basic as they come: a
people already finding it hard to maintain a comfortable quality of
life should not be made to bear unnecessary burdens.

However, this matter is not as cut and dried as it seems.

The state
government in April 2006 signed an agreement with Lekki Concession
Company (LCC) under the Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) scheme for a
period 30 years; an agreement under which the company would upgrade and
expand the busy road and recoup its investment before handing ownership
back to the government.

The company is
presently test-running at the newly constructed toll gate, and
residents are already convinced that the toll will be too high and are
very reluctant to pay any sum for going to their homes and offices
anywhere on the 24km road.

This knee-jerk
response against paying levies for infrastructure provided is worrisome
even if understandable. For years, Nigerians have cried for private
sector participation in order to inject efficiency into public
infrastructure. True, government – at various levels – has seemed
intent on muddling up these arrangements where they have occurred,
whether with Virgin Nigeria or with the Bi-Courtney Group for the
Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two. But, in the case of the Lekki
road, there seems to have been a structured approach to the agreement,
especially when seen in line with the massive road construction efforts
of the Babatunde Fashola-led government. In many parts of the world,
where governments seek to provide basic services such as roads, water
and electricity, citizens have found that you have to pay a little
extra for the convenience. These extras include congestion charges,
council tax, vehicle tax, road taxes and others borne from an
understanding that in the final analysis, there is no gain without pain.

At the very least,
as with MMA2, Nigerians should be motivated by the fact that they know
the services they are paying for will be delivered.

This, of course,
does not mean that the government should abdicate its responsibility to
ameliorate and avoid hardship for its citizens where it can. To this
end we find Mr. Fashola’s comments on the day of the protest troubling.

The governor, who
was held up for hours by the protestors, finally showed up and
addressed them, even though they would not listen. However, his mien
was strange for a leader in a democracy. There was mixture of disdain
and condescension, surely unacceptable since these are people he is
answerable to.

“This protest is
not necessary,” he said. “This is a commercial issue, don’t turn it
into a political issue. I don’t think it is fair to paralyse this road;
people are going to earn their livelihood; children are going to
school.” There seems to a trend with Mr. Fashola where he thinks that,
as long as what he is doing is for the public good, he owes the people
neither explanation nor empathy. This attitude, should as a matter of
urgency be discarded. In a democracy, the people’s feelings matter, the
people’s opinions – however misinformed they appear – must count.

In any case, the
protesters have a point. Has the road been completed? Is the toll too
high? And what about the promised toll-free lane that is yet to
materialise even after a committee set up by the government reportedly
agreed to this?

Add to that, the
mode of collection of the monies, as well as the apparent hurry in
effecting this (the collection of tolls is starting barely a month
after the gates went up) shows a reluctance to think this policy
through or even to engage people so that they can connect.

At the end of day,
both sides in this matter need to get off their high horses and
meaningfully engage each other to fashion out a system that is mutually
agreeable. Development will take pain and patience; and that truism is
applicable both to the concessionaires who seem a bit too eager to
recoup this investment at the expense of the people, as well as
residents of Lagos who need to come to terms with the fact that we
surely cannot conjure progress as a nation from thin air.