This came after the assembly’s Committee on Finance was directed to investigate and report its findings after the request was received on June 21.

During the committee’s presentation on Monday August 9, its chairman Rotimi Olowo stated that after buying-out all the shareholdings interest of LCC, the state government has become the subsisting shareholders of the company with 75% shareholding while the Office of Public-Private Partnerships was left with the remaining 25% shareholding.

Olowo also disclosed that the original $53.9 million loan obligation from a private sector facility – the African Development Bank (AFDB) had been resolved after series of engagements between the bank, LCC, and the state government.

He said this was to convert the loan to a public sector facility with the benefit of a considerable reduction in interest charges of 1.02% of $1.12 million bi-annual, as against the 4.12% of $2.746 million per bi-annual, thus giving a savings of $1.16 million bi-annual or $3.24 million per annum.

The lawmakers who granted the executive the approval to convert the AFDB loan to the public sector loan, backed up by a sovereign Federal Government guarantee on behalf of the state government, also authorised the state government to issue a counter-guarantee in favour of the Federal Government along with an Irrevocable Standing Payment Order (ISPO) to deduct from Lagos State Government statutory allocations.

Servicing of the loan obligations according to the reports, will continue till August 2034.

The State Government had last year announced that it would go cashless on toll payments at the Lekki/ Ikoyi toll plaza effective from 1st January 2020 due to huge traffic gridlocks often experienced on the corridor with cash payments.

Commissioner for Transportation, Frederic Oladeinde, who personally monitored the cashless toll payments at the toll plaza on Thursday, January 2nd along with the Managing Director, Lekki Concession Company Limited, (LCC) Yomi Omomuwasan stated that the new cashless policy was aimed at reducing traffic queue length often experienced during cash payments regime to save travel time and ease traffic movement along the corridor.

Oladeinde, who noted that the new cashless toll payments have brought significant improvement on vehicular movement at the toll plaza compared with the previous situation, added that there was the need to educate the residents on the need to imbibe the new system through compliance because of its advantage on a free flow of traffic.