Cab Drivers Protest In Delta

Posted by Tolulope Ogugua Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Friday, January 21st, 2022

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Cab drivers plying Warri-Abraka route and other routes such as Warri, Eku, Abraka to Agbor Road respectively in Delta State have embarked on a peaceful protest over alleged unbearable extortion and dehumanisation against them by some agents of the state government and the motor park touts.

The protesting cab drivers took to the streets of Effurun and Eku carrying placards with different inscriptions to express their grievances against what they described as multiple ticket levies being collected from them, virtually on a daily basis.

Specifically, they condemned the hijack of waybills, noting that whenever passengers despatch goods or other items in form of waybills through them, the touts otherwise known as agberos collect the fees and convert same to personal money while commanding the drivers to carry the goods for delivery.

They alleged that “the passenger welfare scheme Levy” is being deducted by the touts from the drivers money in the name of manifest while questioning the legality of the deduction of 40 per cent of their money allegedly extorted for manifest.

The protesting drivers demanded an end to dehumanising treatment allegedly being meted at them by the motorpark touts while urging the state government to come up with measures to curb their menace both on the highways and motorparks.

They vowed to further take their protest to the Delta State Government House, Asaba, if the authorities failed to address their grievances.

Spokesperson for the protesting drivers, Mr Overcomer Eze, lamented that they pay on a daily basis for a particular Delta State Government ticket tagged Updelta “several times” from one local government area to another “when one ticket from the state government is supposed to cover them within the state for one day”.

Corroborating him, another driver, Mr Odiri Samuel, alleged that the Updelta ticket is paid for at PTI-Warri while the-same ticket is paid for at Orerokpe, Oviorie, Eku, Abraka, Obiaroko and Agbor, at the rate of N250 per payment.

He spoke further, “We transporters are not happy; we are dying in silence. We don’t want indiscriminate deduction of money from drivers in the name of manifest.

“They have been giving us sleepless nights. They can impound our vehicle and ask us to pay N20,000 or whatever they want. Our grievance is that the state government is intimidating us using agberos and motorpark government revenue collectors.

“Whatever they get from drivers, enter their pockets. We are suffering every day and most of us are driving hire purchase vehicles. With the money they are extorting, we cannot balance the owners of our vehicles and we risk losing our vehicles. We are not happy.”