Drivers, under the umbrella of the Joint Drivers Welfare Association of Nigeria (JDWAN), have again expressed anger over continuous extortions and for the seizure of buses belonging to its members by officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA).
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According to the drivers’ group, the Lagos state government has failed to keep to it’s side of the bargain to stop extortion and violent attack on commercial drivers.
iBrandtv recalls that on Monday, November 7, JDWAN after a week-long strike to boycott Lagos roads in the bid to air its grievances called off its industrial action following their meeting with the Chairman of Lagos State Parks and Garages Management, Musiliu Akinsanya popularly known as MC Oluomo.
However, the group has cried out that its demands are yet to meet, adding that the enforcement of the directive given to LASTMA to impound unpainted vehicles is the newest struggle its members are facing.
JDWAN, in a statement signed by its National Leader, Abiodun Akintade, yesterday said attacks on its members and extorsions are yet to seize.
Akintade bemoaned that a member’s windscreen was broken yesterday morning because of alleged N500 extortion from the state caretaker committee members on his way to mile 2.
“While we await the Lagos State Government to fulfil its promises to stop extortion and violent attack on commercial drivers after the recent drivers strike, Yesterday (Tuesday), November 8, 2022, one of our members, a Mazda bus driver named Samson Adewunmi was attacked at Volks bus stop by Lagos State caretaker committee members formerly known as the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, on his way to mile 2, around 7 am in the morning over N500 illegal extortion.
“His windscreen was broken, he was beaten and macheted, which left two deep gashes on his head, currently in a coma at the hospital and we hope he survives it,” JDWAN stated, sharing a gory picture of Adewunmi with several injuries on the head.
The JDWAN leader also expressed sadness at an alleged seizure of 50 buses belonging to its members yesterday by LASTMA officials over what he described as the state’s “new” yellow bus policy.
Akintade noted that “This morning, Wednesday, November 9, 2022, LASTMA seized over 50 of our buses because of the new yellow bus policy which came to public notice three days ago.
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“We wonder if this is part of the new transport reform or what Lagos commercial drivers demanded during the seven-day strike. Where will drivers suddenly get money to paint their buses amidst the current extortion and violent attacks in Lagos? Could it be that the drivers’ demands must have irked the state government so much that their first line of action is remembering an expensive law that would further increase the sufferings of drivers and commuters in Lagos?
“Without the extortion and violence, painting a bus in three days would have been feasible for drivers.
“A sensitive government would have given three months’ notice before implementing such law that would cost drivers almost 200 thousand naira to comply with,” it added, imploring the Lagos state government to quickly accede to the demands of drivers.
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Arrest and publicly prosecute the violent ‘agberos’ (hoodlums) that attack us daily. Stop the extortion at every bus stop and give the poor drivers some time, at least, three months’ notice to paint their buses,” the statement concluded.”
