THE recent strike by commercial bus drivers to protest against harassment and extortion by transport union operatives highlights the failure of the Lagos State Government to stop the criminal activities of touts. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu should arrest this menace in the interest of the megacity and its 22 million residents.
Long known for chaos, the Lagos transportation system has been rendered even more tumultuous, expensive and oppressive by the activities of violent transport unions. The government should rid the roads, garages and parks of these uncouth individuals; introduce and dispassionately implement lasting reforms in the public transportation system.
Irked by the multiple levies and extortion by union enforcers (agberos) working with the Lagos State Parks Management Committee, bus drivers organised under the aegis of the Joint Drivers Welfare Association of Nigeria, said they had had enough. Their national leader, Abiodun Akintade, lamented, “Drivers and commuters have had a brimful of extortion and harassment from the motor park management and caretaker committee thugs.”
The association reiterated the obvious impact. “It is also visible that the cost of goods and services is a consequence of agberos’ extortion. Goods can’t be delivered without transportation and 95 per cent of working-class residents can’t be transported without the service of commercial drivers. The unfettered and violent extortion by the union agents has not only increased fares beyond the affordability of workers, but also made goods and services out of reach of the poor Lagosians.”
