NURTW, Ikeja LG Disagree
Crisis is brewing in Ikeja area of Lagos State over illegal seizure of commuter buses by officials of the Ikeja Local Government Task Force.
P.M.NEWS learnt that men of the task force have been impounding commuter buses under flimsy excuses. Hundreds of drivers have had their vehicles impounded by the task force in the last two days.
It was also gathered that the task force always impose N5,000 fine for every vehicle impounded.
Problem started when the Ikeja local government decided to impose ticket at the rate of N100 per day on every vehicle and the agreement was that officials of the Ikeja chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, should help the council to collect the revenue as it is being done in other local government councils. The project kicked off initially, but at a point the local council decided to give the contract to another consultant.
Following this, the NURTW directed its men to stop cooperating with the consultant engaged by the council for the revenue collection.
However, the matter came to a head on Wednesday when Ikeja Local Government directed the task force to impound vehicles that refused to buy the ticket.
The NURTW appealed to the state government to call the Chairman of Ikeja Local Government, Hon. Adewale Odunlami, to order to avert any crisis within Ikeja as the commuter bus drivers are threatening to withdraw their vehicles from the roads if the local government continued to harass them.
When P.M.NEWS visited the council area, the chairman was not around to react to the development, but an official of the council who sought anonymity stated that the council was ready to dialogue with the drivers to avoid crisis in Ikeja.
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