Commercial transport workers in parts of Lagos State are lamenting that despite the strike action organised by motorists under the aegis of the Joint Drivers Welfare Association in November 2022, the situation has remained the same as they still pay multiple levies to members of the Lagos State Parks and Garages Management.
PUNCH Metro reported that the JDWAN had embarked on a seven-day strike over allegations of multiple levies and other forms of extortion allegedly by members of the Lagos State Parks and Garages Management which led to a sharp increase in fares and stranded passengers along bus stops in the city.
Our correspondent gathered from some of the drivers that the management of garages in the metropolis is adamant about the collection of multiple levies such that if they (drivers) refuse to pay, their vehicles would not be allowed to pick up passengers.
A driver who plies Oshodi and Sango routes, Adewale Oluwafemi, told our correspondent that he still pays about 10 to 15 levies from Oshodi where he picks up his passengers.
He said, “The strike has achieved nothing for many of us who are commercial drivers because, from Oshodi where I pick up passengers going to Sango, I still pay as much as N200 at some bus stops when passengers disembark or board my vehicle.
“At the suspension of the strike by drivers last November, most of us felt that the government would at least stop this issue of paying the ‘Agberos’ at every junction where we stop and pick up passengers but that has not been the case.”
Another driver, Wasiu Gbadamosi, narrated his ordeal in the hands of officials of park and garages management at Iyana Ipaja over multiple fees in the garage to our correspondent. He said his bus was stopped from picking up passengers because he refused to pay some levies.
“Agberos at our park in Iyana-Ipaja did not allow me to pick up passengers on time today. It was only after two buses had gone that I was allowed to pick up passengers. They even confronted me and told me that since I am always confronting them (Agberos) over park levies, they would also continue to delay my bus from loading passengers,” he said.
A commuter, Ngozi Ebere, told our correspondent that passengers are the ones who bear the brunt of the multiple levies which are still in existence as drivers easily pass them on to them.
She said, “The drivers went on strike last year over the activities of the park managers and yet, nothing has changed. We pay more for fares now. From Oshodi to Egbeda is now N500 instead of the usual N300 that we used to pay before now.
“The multiple fees that drivers complained about are easily transferred to passengers to pay because we the passengers are the ones paying fares and not the drivers.”
In a telephone conversation with our correspondent, the national leader of the JDWAN, Abiodun Akintade, alleged that park managers and their hirelings have become more emboldened due to the government’s passive interests in the welfare of the drivers.
He said, “I must be frank here, the situation that led to the strike action of JDWAN last year is still very much in operation. The Lagos State Government promised to call us for a meeting over the matter but they are yet to do so.
“They have been using delay tactics against us and their leaders (Lagos Parks and Garages Management) have also turned blind eyes to the activities of their agents who go around harassing our members at will. They have refused to caution their members on the appropriate levies payable by drivers.
“Instead, the situation just got worse because they (Agberos) have seen that the government and Park and Garages Management officials are not taking the matter as seriously as it should be.The Chairman of the Lagos State Parks and Garages Management, Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly called MC Oluomo, did not take his call or respond to the message sent to him when PUNCH Metro attempted to get his reaction on Thursday.
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