By: Newspeddlers
The drivers'
union of Lagos State
Badagry chapter has given
the state government an ultimatum to respond to their demands or they embark on peaceful protest .
The union down tooled early this month because of the
increase in ticket charges and the maltreatment of their members by the National
Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW and Road Transport Employers
Association of Nigeria, RTEAN. Also known as (Agbero).
In an interview with media Mr. Abiodun Akintade, the leader
of IBILE drivers'
association said “we wake up 3am we may not go back home until 8pm, at the end
of the day we have nothing to show because all these Agbero collected all the
money with us either by force or by fair. Giving instance of when a driver was dragged down from his bus and
another vehicle cruched
his leg".
Taofik Hassan, IBILE drives' stake holders, "is not only the ticket that Lagos state
government brought out is our problem, the problem the drivers are facing is
too much, the extortion in every bus stop, which happens in the state as a
whole, and after calculating it,
it’s a very huge amount, which is more than what the drivers get daily".
AMB. Mark Akande, president of SHACO NGO and a human
activist said "any association that is trying to force the drivers is against
their fundamental human right, what we are saying is that we don’t want
non-state actors to be involved in the collection of taxes they are ready to
pay to the government, the drivers are ready to obey any rule set up by the
Lagos state government. So they don’t want the involvement of any non-state
actor. They belong to a registered association".
"I don’t understand why one association will want to suppress
the other, we plead with the Attorney
General of Lagos state
and the commissioner for transportation to get involved in this matter".
He further said "the drivers have given their demand that by April 5th if the issue is not looked into there is going to be a mass protest which will be done peacefully, so the governor of Lagos state should wake up and do the needful".