Nigeria owes New York $1m parking fees

Nigeria is owing New York City about $1m in parking tickets, the city’s Department of Finance has said. The amount is the second highest. Reuters reports that the city is being owed nearly $17m in parking tickets issued to diplomats, a hefty amount that may have grown last week as world leaders gathered for the United Nations General Assembly. The city said unpaid tickets totalled $16.7m at the end of July. Egypt topped the list with $1.9m in tickets, followed by Nigeria with about $1m and Indonesia with about $725,000. US congressmen, Michael Grimm, Peter King and Edolphus Towns, have introduced legislation that will impose sanctions on countries with diplomats, who fail to pay parking fines in New York City, the report said. “We can only imagine how much is being racked up this week,” Grimm’s spokeswoman, Carol Danko, said of the diplomats and world leaders, who met at the United Nations in New York. Under current law, 110 per cent of total unpaid parking fines owed to New York City and Washington will be withheld from the foreign aid and obligations to the offending countries. But the affected cities did not recover any of the money, Danko said. The proposed legislation wants the US State Department to deny the renewal of diplomatic licences to any country with outstanding parking fines. New York City is home to 289 foreign missions and consulates. The diplomats’ tickets were issued for safety violations, including blocking fire hydrants. “There’s no such thing as ‘diplomatic immunity’ from paying parking tickets,” Grimm said, when the legislation was introduced in May. “If you get a ticket in NYC, you have to pay it. No exceptions. New York City’s budget is tight enough as it is, and foreign diplomats do not deserve a free pass at the expense of New York City taxpayers,” he added. THE PUNCH’s attempts to obtain a comment from the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC failed as several calls to different departments were not answered on Monday.at the city is being owed nearly $17m in parking tickets issued to diplomats, a hefty amount that may have grown last week as world leaders gathered for the United Nations General Assembly. The city said unpaid tickets totalled $16.7m at the end of July. Egypt topped the list with $1.9m in tickets, followed by Nigeria with about $1m and Indonesia with about $725,000. US congressmen, Michael Grimm, Peter King and Edolphus Towns, have introduced legislation that will impose sanctions on countries with diplomats, who fail to pay parking fines in New York City, the report said. “We can only imagine how much is being racked up this week,” Grimm’s spokeswoman, Carol Danko, said of the diplomats and world leaders, who met at the United Nations in New York. Under current law, 110 per cent of total unpaid parking fines owed to New York City and Washington will be withheld from the foreign aid and obligations to the offending countries. But the affected cities did not recover any of the money, Danko said. The proposed legislation wants the US State Department to deny the renewal of diplomatic licences to any country with outstanding parking fines. New York City is home to 289 foreign missions and consulates. The diplomats’ tickets were issued for safety violations, including blocking fire hydrants. “There’s no such thing as ‘diplomatic immunity’ from paying parking tickets,” Grimm said, when the legislation was introduced in May. “If you get a ticket in NYC, you have to pay it. No exceptions. New York City’s budget is tight enough as it is, and foreign diplomats do not deserve a free pass at the expense of New York City taxpayers,” he added. THE PUNCH’s attempts to obtain a comment from the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC failed as several calls to different departments were not answered on Monday.