The Lagos State Parking Authority (LASPA) has offered a six-month grace period to hospitality businesses to resolve parking shortfalls.

Adebisi Adelabu, general manager (GM) of LASPA, spoke on Monday during a meeting with representatives of the restaurant, cafe, bar and club (RCBC) association in Lagos.

The meeting aimed to address concerns regarding the Lagos state parking policy and its impact on businesses in the hospitality industry.

Adelabu expressed concern over the inadequate parking facilities in some establishments.

She said many hospitality businesses had failed to comply with building regulations that require sufficient parking for their customers.

The LASPA boss reassured attendees that the state government remains committed to the parking policy, which aims to curb indiscriminate parking and reduce traffic congestion.

The general manager also addressed concerns about overlapping jurisdictions and interference from local governments.

Adelabu said the state has formed strategic partnerships with local governments and local council development areas (LCDAs) to prevent additional disturbances over parking levies.

“Business owners are advised to consult with LASPA before allowing customer parking on roads, which can obstruct traffic,” she said.

“We acknowledging the challenges faced by businesses. There is need for the hospitality sector to communicate their specific needs so that LASPA can provide appropriate guidance and recommend nearby parking options.”

She stressed the need to balance business interests with the rights of the general public and urged businesses to comply with the policy, adding that LASPA has made provisions for flexible payment plans for compliant businesses.

Adelabu called on Lagos residents to support the state’s parking regulation efforts and participate in the regulated on-street parking scheme.

“Compliance with the policy is vital for reducing traffic congestion and improving parking efficiency,” Adelabu said.

“By paying the required parking levies and engaging with the system, you help create a more organised and accessible urban environment.”

In her remarks, Morenike George-Taylor, RCBC’s president, thanked the LASPA general manager for her proactive engagement and confirmed that many members were already in compliance with the parking regulations.

George-Taylor also affirmed the hospitality sector’s readiness to support and adapt to the new parking scheme.

Oyo State Government has expressed its readiness to partner with the Gender Mobile Initiative to reduce cases of sexual harassment and other vices in State’s Owned Tertiary Institutions through technology.

Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abdulwaheed Adelabu disclosed this on Thursday at A One—Day Stakeholders’ Meeting with Education Commissioner on Dissemination, Adaptation, and Implementation of Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy in Tertiary Institutions in Oyo State, held at the Polytechnic, Ibadan.

Speaking further at the meeting organized by the Education Ministry and Gender Mobile Initiative, Prof. Adelabu, said the Ministry together with the organization would design a framework that will complement the existing policies of each public tertiary institution in respect to sexual harassment.

He added that the introduction of technology would assist greatly in tracking perpetrators of sexual harassment in the Institutions and activities of individuals on campuses.

The commissioner openned that lecturers are expected to see their students as biological children and treat them in such a manner.

He submitted that sometimes students deliberately harass their lecturers sexually through various means, calling on both to desist from the act.

Prof. Adelabu revealed that the Governor Seyi Makinde administration would support the organization that is ready to work with Government in achieving its desires goals and objectives.

He noted that the Government will not spare anyone caught engaging in sexual harassment and other vices but deal with them accordingly.

The convener, Barrister Omowumi Ogunrotimi, said the organization sees the need to sensitize and educate the people about what constitutes sexual harassment and ways of preventing the menace, particularly among students of tertiary Institutions.

She hinted that about 70% of undergraduates experienced sexual harassment, adding that the Gender Mobile Applications provides a clear reporting channel for victims of sexual harassment to reach the leaderships of concerned Institutions.

She harped on the need for the leadership of tertiary Institutions to integrate sexual harassment preventive mechanisms into their framework and also leverage on technology.

While appreciating the Oyo State Government for the unalloyed support, Ogunrotimi said work would commence with the heads of tertiary Institutions in the State using the model policy on sexual harassment prevention approved by the federal ministry of education.

Commending the leadership of Education ministry and the convener of the programme, member, Oyo State house of assembly, Hon. Bisi Oluranti Michael, advised the students to stay away from indecent

dressing, particularly the female students, saying this would prevent them from becoming victims of sexual harassment or rape.

Asue Ighodalo, governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo, has asked his lawyers to institute a suit against Adams Oshiomhole, senator representing Edo north, over defamatory allegations.

Ighodalo said Oshiomole had accused him of involvement in “Planwell,” a ponzi scheme that surfaced in Edo state in the early 1990s.

“People of my age and even younger have not forgotten how Asue Ighodalo and all his associates were involved in what they call Planwell,” Oshiomole said during a campaign rally on Saturday.

“Planwell was set up as an institution where you deposit 10,000 in the morning by tomorrow it becomes 15,000, and after six months, people were defrauded, and the institution disappeared. And they became rich, and Edo people became pauperised.”

In a response to the allegations through his counsel, Ayo Asala, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Ighodalo described Oshiomole’s comment as “false, defamatory, and malicious”.

“It is sad to note that despite your status as an elder and holder of a public office, you appear to have developed a pattern of spewing false statements in the public domain purely for the achievement of your political ends,” a letter by Ighodalo’s lawyer and addressed to Oshiomhole reads.

“This baseless, unfounded, false, and malicious allegation has become another in a long line of such defamatory fabrications and statements made by you in respect of our client in the recent past.

“Our client is an accomplished Nigerian legal practitioner and a corporate leader whose impressive resume from birth up till the current day is entirely in the public domain, and our client has absolutely no connection with and could never have been involved in any manner whatsoever with the purported ‘Planwell’ scheme with which you have seriously defamed our client’s reputation.

“It is clear that the fabrication of the unfounded and false story regarding the purported involvement of our client in the said ‘Planwell’ scheme or any other financial scheme whatsoever is a figment of your imagination and a story fabricated purely for the purpose of denigrating the good character and reputation of our client for the achievement of the political purpose of advancing the sinking fortunes of your political party and candidate in the forthcoming Edo state gubernatorial elections.

“Our client has been inundated with calls and other contacts from concerned members of the public who heard your said allegations on electronic and social media, as a result of which our client has suffered enormous unwarranted reputational damage arising from the lies and baseless fabrications of which you have become the purveyor.”

Ighodalo is demanding “an immediate and unqualified retraction and apology for your false, defamatory, and malicious statements, which should be published in at least two national television networks and three nationally circulating newspapers”.

“Pay to our client damages in the sum of 20 billion Naira for your false, defamatory, and malicious statements referred to herein,” the letter further stated.

“Take notice that it is our client’s instructions that we immediately institute appropriate proceedings against you for damages in the sum of twenty (20) billion Naira (N20,000,000,000.00) for your said false, malicious, irresponsible, and damaging statements made against our client without any foundation whatsoever in fact.

“Further take notice that such action will be instituted without further notice or correspondence to you in that regard whatsoever.”