Touts Still Kings Of Lagos Motor Parks Over 3 Months After Ban

When the Lagos State government enacted the traffic law, the provision mostly applauded by the residents was that which banned members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, popularly referred to as Agbero or any union for that matter from collecting money from commuter bus operators at motor parks or bus stops. Many had thought the prohibition would bring sanity to the motor parks.

Immediately it was passed by the State House of Assembly and signed into law by Governor Babatunde Fashola, SAN, the union members disappeared into their shells. For some time, they jettisoned their uniforms and canes used to beat drivers who hesitated to give them money.

However, within a few days, they returned to the motor parks and bus stops without their uniforms. And right now, it is business as usual at all the motor parks and bus stops. NURTW members, touts, or union officials now harass, intimidate and extort money from drivers without hindrance.

Immediately the ban was announced, Kayode Opeifa, Commissioner for Transport, in a concise and precise manner, told journalists during a press conference in his office that the new traffic law has banned the activities of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and their touts in motor parks. “Henceforth, union activities are no longer allowed in all the motor parks and bus stops in the state; what they need to do now is to operate the way other unions in the state operate,” he said.

But about three months later, union activities in the state still thrive. They have devised a new method to beat the system and continue their illegal acts. For many years, NURTW members and touts have unlawfully extorted money from mostly commuter bus drivers at almost all the bus-stops in Lagos State, sometimes causing chaos in the process and that has not stopped.

The state government had ordered them to operate from their registered offices and cease to hinder operators of commercial transport in the state but they are still operating in many bus-stops, harassing commercial bus drivers and conductors.

Opeifa said NURTW members are supposed to be in their offices. “We recognise the right for them to associate but we believe that the motor parks should be made conducive for those who want to carry out their business of commuting in the state. No union member should be seen collecting money from transporters; it is illegal and we won’t take this any longer,” he warned.

Opeifa added that the government would re-register motor parks in the state while unauthorised vehicles and illegal parks would not be allowed in the state’s transport system.

Government implementation on the motorcycle ban was gaining momentum but same cannot be said of the ban on NURTW members and touts. The Agberos still stand at bus stops and parks to harass commuter bus drivers. They now lurk in corners of the parks, dressed in mufti like passengers who want to board a bus, but quickly run to the drivers to request for an illegal fee; they claim the driver has either picked or discharged passengers at their parks and must pay for using the bus-stops.

Ahmed Haruna a bus driver who operates on the Iyana-Iba to Iyana-Ipaja axis told P.M.NEWS Metro that he pays about N5,300 daily to unions and Agberos. Although he said some of the fees are legal, most of them are not. “We pay dues at motor parks where we registered our buses and most of the dues paid there are legal but the ones we pay at the bus-stops are illegal and we want government to implement the new traffic law banning touts,” he complained.

He said he pays N1,000 at Iyana-Iba motor park, N800 at Igando, N600 at Egbeda and N600 at Iyana-Ipaja all on his morning trip but there is the additional payment to touts at every bus stop where he picks or discharges passengers. “Many drivers refuse to stop at certain bus stops because of the illegal fees they charge us and when we refuse to pay they become violent, sometimes destroying our side mirrors, bus seats or even windscreen,” he said.

Another commercial bus driver who works on the Ikeja-Yaba route said Agberos have continued to operate despite the ban because the police have not enforced the traffic law banning them. “The police should enforce the law and ensure that the illegal operations of Agberos stop. This is a mega city and we have to treat it as one,” he explained.

He added that the activity of the touts is frustrating drivers in the state. He wants the government to implement the law that prohibits touts from harassing them. “The government should implement the law that has been passed because touts keep preventing us from doing our business with peace of mind. We pay our taxes and deserve to be protected by the Lagos State government,” he said.

Many commuters in Lagos have also questioned the presence of NURTW members and touts at bus stops. Adebisi Jimoh said some commercial bus drivers would rather drive their buses empty than stop to pick passengers at Idimu bus stop because the activities of the touts there often force bus operators to flee the bus-stop.

Khadijat Aliyu, a trader at Oshodi claimed that bus fare would not have soared but for Agberos who she described as ‘lazy and useless’. “The Agberos are the ones that encourage commuter bus drivers to increase bus fares arbitrarily, particularly when there are so many commuters at the bus stops,” she said.

She added that unless the government and commercial bus drivers work against them, they will never stop their illegal collections in Lagos motor parks.

The state government also banned the collection of tolls on roads and highways by touts but that has not changed as well. Some of the Agberos that P.M. NEWS Metro spoke with discreetly said they were not going to leave the parks because they had no other source of income and could not be forced out of the only business they know.

—Seun Bisuga