Lagos State will begin charging motorists for parking on designated streets before the end of 2026, the Lagos State Parking Authority has announced.

The General Manager of LASPA, Adebisi Adelabu, disclosed this while briefing the Chairman of Ikeja Local Government Area, Akeem Dauda, and his management team during a stakeholder engagement visit.

This was contained in a statement by the Head, Public Affairs, LASPA, Dunkwu Divine, on Wednesday.

Adelabu said the On-Street Parking Scheme will commence as a pilot in selected Local Government Areas including Ikeja and is designed to bring order to parking on Lagos streets, ease traffic congestion and create jobs for residents within the designated areas.

“The On-Street Parking Scheme will improve parking management, enhance traffic flow and generate employment opportunities, particularly for residents within the selected areas,” she stated.

The LASPA boss also clarified the authority’s mandate, noting that responsibility for parking management was originally domiciled with local government areas across the state before the Conference of the 57 Local Government Areas and Local Council Development Areas formally ceded it to LASPA.

She added that LGAs and LCDAs stand to benefit from the initiative based on their level of cooperation, urging local authorities to actively support its implementation. Mrs. Adelabu also reaffirmed LASPA’s openness to inputs and suggestions from stakeholders to ensure a smooth rollout.

Responding, the Ikeja LGA Chairman welcomed the development, pledging the council’s support, while calling for wider public sensitization to prepare residents ahead of the scheme’s commencement.

With Lagos grappling with chronic traffic gridlock and disorderly roadside parking, authorities say the scheme represents a significant step toward more structured and sustainable urban mobility management in Africa’s largest city.

Chaotic roadside parking has long been identified as a major contributor to the gridlock that plagues Lagos, particularly in high-traffic commercial districts such as Ikeja, Lagos Island, Surulere and Apapa.

Vehicles parked indiscriminately on roadsides routinely narrow carriageways, obstruct traffic flow and frustrate commuters, with economic consequences running into billions of naira in lost productivity annually.

The son of a former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, Bello El-Rufai, has defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to African Democratic Congress, ADC.

Bello El-Rufai is a member of the House of Representatives.

El-Rufai’s defection was announced by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, during plenary on Thursday.

Tajudeen said that El-Rufai was joining ADC alongside two Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, lawmakers from Kaduna State – Umar Ajilo and Suleiman Richifa.

The Speaker also announced the defection of Kamilu Ado, a lawmaker from Kano State, from ADC to Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC.

He equally announced the defection of Joshua Obika, representing AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency of the Federal Capital Territory, from the APC to NDC.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that all the affected members cited internal crises and uncertainty within their former parties as reasons for their defections.

NAN

President Bola Tinubu has approved the redeployment of Femi Fani-Kayode as ambassador designate to South Africa.

Fani-Kayode was redeployed to South Africa after he was reportedly rejected by the German government.

However, disclosing the current development in a post on X, Fani-Kayode claimed he rejected his initial position to Germany.

He equally claimed he was the one that opted for South Africa.

Fani-Kayode wrote: “It gives me pleasure to announce the fact that Mr. President has graciously approved my posting as Nigeria’s Ambassador-Designate to South Africa.

“This came a few days after the initial posting to Germany was announced and after I made a formal representation to the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar, that I was not comfortable with Germany for a number of personal reasons and given the fact that I had lived in Europe most of my life I would prefer to go to South Africa which is a country that I had never been to and for which I have so much interest.

“I also expressed the fact that I would rather serve in a country that shares some of my convictions, beliefs and values when it comes to world affairs, that has the biggest economy in Africa, that has closer ties to Nigeria and that is more proximate to my political thinking when it comes to foreign affairs and a pan African vision.

“I therefore made an application for a redeployment to South Africa two days after the initial announcement was made and I am pleased to say that after the then Foreign Minister (H.E. Ambassador Yusuf Tuggar) heard my reasons he considered them favourably after which he conveyed the request to Mr. President who graciously approved it.”