We Depend On Loan, Lagos Agency Cries Out To State Assembly

The Lagos State Motor Vehicle Administration Agency (MVAA) has won the sympathy of members of the state House of Assembly Committee on Transport, Commerce and Industry after its management told the lawmakers that they have been running the agency on loan.

They complained that despite the huge revenue of about N18 billion which the agency was supposed to make for the state this year, it has not been able to access the funds approved as running cost for it by the House in this year’s budget.

The agency further lamented that there were no vehicles to tackle the huge tasks before it.

Speaking with the Committee members, who paid the agency a courtesy visit, the Permanent Secretary of the agency, Akin Hanson said though the agency was a created in 2007 as a reaction to the pedestrian nature of vehicles in Nigeria, it had not been accorded enough environment to maximise its potentials.

According to Hanson, the building housing the agency’s headquarters close to Omole Bus Stop on Agidingbi Road is rented and the agency pays heavily even when the offices are not enough for the staff.

The Permanent Secretary, who earlier reeled out the achievements of the agency, told the Committee: ” for us to continue to operate, we would need money.

“As we speak, this is the fourth month of the year and we are yet to receive a kobo as running cost.

“We operate now on loan and on the goodwill we have built over the years. If PHCN strikes now, the traffic light that we power at the junction here would stop working.

“The diesel that we have in our tank now is there on loan. So it is important that we have a regular fund with which to operate.”

He further explained that the agency has over 46 out-stations apart from 400 bank branches from which the agency operates.

“We must always monitor the out-stations and the bank branches to see that they operate in line with the procedure given to them and money is needed to do this,” he said, adding that they agency also spends heavily on internet since it is not located within the state secretariat and as a result, does not enjoy government’s internet facility.

He told the Committee that since MVAA started in 2007, the revenue profile of the agency had risen steadily.

“From N2.8 billion in 2007, the revenue per annum doubled in 2009 to N4.1 billion; n 2010 to N6 billion and to N6.4 billion in 2011,” he said adding that this feat was achieved through automation of the agency’s financial activities.

“Before the introduction of automation, it means that over N3.5 billion was lost to the system,” he stressed.

He also disclosed that the agency has been able to discourage fake registration and licensing as well as insurance in the state and that the agency had also engaged private the sector in rendering some of its services like the auto alert which is sent to individuals to inform them of the expiration of their vehicle licenses.

He said the agency maintains the most robust data base in the country and has used its activities to reduce crime and ensure better security in the state.

Hanson said Liberia and Sierra Leone and 14 other states in Nigeria have visited the state to understudy the agency’s activities leading to the establishment of Motor Vehicle Administration Agency in the various states.

He said due to innovation, no stolen vehicle duly registered in the state can now be recycled or re-registered in Lagos and its partner states like Oyo, Niger, Anambra and Abuja because every vehicle has a unique chasis and once it is keyed into the system, an alert is sent to the agency.

He added that between 2007 and 2009, over 200 vehicles were recovered through the state MVAA.

The Permanent Secretary also disclosed that the agency has been having problems with touts who impersonate staff of the agency.

Some of the management staff of the agency also told the lawmakers that since last year, the agency had not engaged in adequate capacity building due to lack of funds and as a result, it had resorted to making use of internal staff for training of their colleagues.

The agency explained that so far, the state has 380,000 registered okada riders, saying that the population of those in the business is a major reason why they have not been banned, but have been asked to get rider’s permit as government is considerate about their plight.

Reacting, Chairman of the Committee, Bisi Yusuf, vowed that the Assembly would investigate the reason why the agency has not been able to access its budgetary allocation for the year.

He said: “if this agency is making so much money for the government, why should it live on loan? We must pose this question to those that have the authority to give out this money, because the fund had been approved by the House.

“How can you be renting offices when you can have yours? You have to demand for it.”