28th September, 2011
From all indications, commercial bus drivers appear to have become fed up with the negative public perception of them over their perceived criminal activities and are seeking to partner with the police in a bid to launder their battered image.
Police sources at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters in Ikeja, southwest Nigeria, disclosed that commercial bus drivers in the state have formed an association known as Bus Conductors Association of Nigeria.
The source said the association has formally written to Yakubu Alkali, the state Commissioner of Police, on the urgent need to partner with the law enforcement agency to rid the state of criminals, who disguise as commercial bus conductors to perpetrate their nefarious activities.
Independent checks by P.M.NEWS revealed that the association has Isreal Adeshola as president, Catherine Akande as general secretary and Benard Nosakhire as acting publicity secretary.
Speaking with our reporter on the partnership with the police, Samuel Jinadu, Lagos State police spokesman, said the association sent a formal letter to the police boss, who subsequently minuted on it and passed it on to his office for necessary action.
According to Jinadu, members of the association are planning to generate one million jobs every year, organise seminars and talkshops in conjunction with police authorities in order to find ways of checking criminal activities, especially among conductors in the state.
“Officials of the association have paid him a courtesy call with the intention of working out the partnership issue,†the police image launder further disclosed.
—Emmanuel Udom