The excesses of transport unions

THE National Union Transport Workers (NURTW) is an independent trade union that serves the interests of transport workers in Nigeria’s road transport sector. It has its headquarters in Sapele street, Garki, Abuja. It calls for collective cooperation by members of the union and the society and pushes for social stability for all workers in the transport sector as defined in its constitution. It was established in 1978, having emerged as a successor to the Nigerian Road Transport Union that was formed in 1934. When it was formed in the Second Republic between 1978 and 1980, its members were locally called agbero in Yorubaland. The word was coined from ‘a gba ero’ meaning he who receives commuters. The primary function is to defend its workers’ rights. The union regulates activities at motor parks, negotiates transport fares and disciplines erring drivers as well as criminal elements among them. Taxi, bus and truck drivers usually own or rent vehicles and hire them out for service and they are all under the auspices of the Union.

In Lagos and Oyo states currently, we have the Park Management System (PMS), which is quite different from the NURTW. Its function is ‘to protect, defend and promote the interests of all workers in the union against discrimination and unfair labour practices’. Some of its functions are ‘to protect labours against victimisation and injustice, to take up welfare measures for improving the morale of workers, to generate self-confidence among workers, to raise the status of workers as a part of the industry’ and many other beautiful functions. It is glaring the current members of NURTW have deviated from the aims and objectives of the union. Over the years, some of their members have been alleged to be involved in electoral malpractices. It is also alleged that they are being used by politicians to disrupt elections and to attack opposition parties. It is sad to note that nowadays, the union is associated with extortion of money, disrupting the peace at parks, and pursuing the interests of bureaucrats against the will of the people, especially during election periods, and formenting public unrest.

Task forces set up by the leaders of the union harass drivers and even go as far as causing physical injuries to erring drivers. In the South-West today, they cause more harm than good. Transport union members are sometimes armed and operate under the influence of drugs and alcohol. They damage vehicles without inhibition and engage in street fights. Lagos, Oyo, Kwara and Ogun States have had their share of NURTW causing some mayhem over the years. The union has obviously deviated from its core values! And the PMS members are no different. In Ibadan, for example, many of the supposed task managers are unruly and lawless. Some reek of alcohol as early as 6:00am. They jump into the road anyhow in a bid to stop public vehicles like taxis, tricycles popularly called ‘Marwa’ and motorcycles, collecting money forcefully from the drivers and cyclists. They fight for control of government-built motor parks. Nobody can say what all those fees that are forcefully collected are being used for. At least, the general public and the drivers from whom these monies are collected deserve to know what they are used for.

The faceoff in June between the former interim chairman of the PMS in Oyo State, Mukaila Lamidi, popularly called Auxiliary, and the State government calls for retrospection. The state government dissolved the Disciplinary Committee headed by the former and all hell was let loose. Lamidi began protesting, which made the governor to take appropriate actions to curb his excesses. The governor’s house at Kolapo Ishola Estate in Ibadan, was reported to have been bombarded by men who claimed to be loyal to Mukaila and ‘protesting’. As the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of the state, the state governor has the right to do everything in his power to maintain peace and order in the state and do away with anyone or anything he thinks can disrupt peace and tranquillity in the state. It is the duty of the government to take care of acts of brigandage and any form of violence before it escalates and leads to loss of lives and properties. The NURTW or the PMS, as the case may be, does not have the right to hold the state to ransom under any guise.

The act of hooliganism some transporters display is quite appalling. They ought to maintain peace and not cause mayhem in the society. Their activities sometimes have been chaotic. There should be a stop to manhandling members who can’t pay levies or don’t pay when due. The painful part is that the levies imposed on the members aren’t friendly. There should be a review of the unending levies drivers are made to pay such as booking fees, chairman’s fees, boys’ levy and many other outrageous levies. There should be made lenient in the way they introduce fees and collect such from their members so that the people won’t be affected because when drivers are made to pay high levies, the transport fees would be high. The masses are invariably the ones to pay for this. There should be an end to task force officers violently grabbing conductors and drivers, even resorting to fistcuffs due to the latter being supposedly guilty of something or the other.

Many accidents have occurred following these acts on our roads. This is the more reason politicians have to be careful in making alliances with them. This will go a long way to curb the recurrence of various forms of insubordination displayed by them. When you use such people to enforce and institute rules in communities, the aftermath can’t be palatable. It is the duty of the government to take care of such. Seminars and lectures can be organised for the members to educate them on the true aims and objectives of transport unions and the need to adhere to them for the betterment of Nigeria as a nation. The government can make the payment of levy a once-a-day thing with an authentic receipt from government-designated offices for drivers. Once a driver begins the day’s job, he drives in, pays for his ticket and sticks it on his or her vehicle till the following day. Anyone caught without the authentic receipt could be prosecuted as the state deems fit. All other unnecessary fees should be scraped and anyone engaging in unlawful collection should be prosecuted.