The Lagos State Government has said ride-hailing operators will pay a levy of N20 known as road improvement fund, on each trip their drivers make in a day starting from August 27.

The state government disclosed this on Friday in a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Gboyega Akosile, and entitled ‘Lagos govt, e-hailing operators agree on new regulations’

According to the statement, a meeting between the state government and representatives of the ride-hailing operators was held on Friday, with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu in attendance.

The Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladehinde, said the state government and the operators had unanimously adopted the new regulations, after all parties jointly reviewed and fine-tuned some of the contentious items in the framework.

He said they reached an agreement on the controversial service tax, which is to be known as road improvement fund.

He said the new regulations were not initiated by the government to extort the operators and drivers in the business, adding that the government was moved by the necessity to regularise the ride-hailing operations in line with security measures.

According to the statement, the enforcement of the new regulations will now take off from August 27, 2020 instead August 20 initially announced by the government.

The commissioner said the governor offered a duty incentive to the operators, reducing their statutory operational licencing fee and renewal fee by 20 per cent.

“This implies that each e-hailing firm will now pay N8m per 1,000 cars fresh licencing and renewal, instead of N10m initially announced,” the statement said.

The parties, Oladehinde said, also agreed on procurement of comprehensive insurance by the e-hailing companies to cover their drivers and passengers.

“We also discussed the issue of service tax, which was initially defined as 10 per cent charge. We have come to resolution that the levy will become a flat fee of N20 per trip. We no longer call it service tax; we now call it Road Improvement Fund, which will be levied per trip,” he said.

He added that the state government had granted all drivers on the e-hailing platforms an extension of 90 days to perfect all documents and licences, required for operation, including driver’s licence and Lagos State Residents Registration Agency cards.