There was a clash
between members of the National
Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and Road Transport Employers’ Association of
Nigeria (RTEAN) Thursday in Igando, a ghetto
in Lagos, south-west Nigeria.
Trouble allegedly began
when NURTW increased the prices of ticket for RTEAN and that of commercial
motorcycles operators from N400 to N1000 daily.
But, NURTW denied that the hike was over N1, 000, insisting that the daily fare for motorcyclists at Alimosho was N600.
According to the union’s Secretary, Tijani Pekis, booking ticket was introduced in order to curb cases of illegal taxation motorcyclists were subjected to.
He said: “This is a case between a father and his son, which an adopted father wanted to hijack. It is misunderstanding between the rank and file of the union and so we are meeting to resolve it.
“What actually happened was that some of our workers used the
restriction of motorcycles to certain routes in the state to extort
motorcyclists.
“They keep collecting money from them and these riders end up paying so much daily. In Alimosho alone, there are over 30 units and imagine how much they spend, laying N50 tax security to each one daily.
“At the end of the day, their interest is not protected and these money go into private pockets. So, in order to correct that situation, we introduced booking tickets of N200 per day. With this ticket, an Okada can ply from Igando to Egbeda and Ikotun, but cannot go to places like Surulere because of the restriction.
“At Igando, they protested and we reduced the amount to N100 per
day, and then, the N500 daily paid to national, totaling N600. Still they
refused to pay.
That was what caused the fight, but it’s being resolved because
we are members of the same family.”
Contacted, the command’s spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent of Police (SP) said her boss, Fatai Owoseni, has directed that all those involved in the fracas be arrested and prosecuted.
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