SUBAIR MOHAMMED and LEKAN OLABULO dug up the dark side of transport unionism, revealing the massive extortionist enterprise generating billions of naira to fund exotic lifestyles of the union leaders.
The International Center for Investigative Reporting (ICIR ) recently stirred the hornet’s nest with its findings that transport unions in Lagos make about N123 billion annually levying commercial vehicle drivers, tricyclists and motorcyclists operating in the state.
The ICIR quoted the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) as saying that there are at least 75,000 commercial buses in the state with each driver paying at least N3,000 daily to transport unions in the state. It also said that there are no fewer than 50,000 tricycles and 37,000, motorcycles operating commercially in the state and while each of the tricycles pays N1,800 levy daily, the tricyclists pay at least N600, thereby arriving at the annual figure, which is more than the IGR of many states.
Investigation conducted by Saturday Tribune showed an average full-time commercial driver in the state pays between N3,000 and N5,000 as daily levies to different units, branches, bus stops and park managers. Findings also revealed that the number of commercial vehicles in Lagos State might have risen beyond the 75,000 quoted by LAMATA, while the numbers of tricycles and motorcycles have likely reduced due to the ban on tricycle and motorcycle operations in many parts of the state.
Although the administration of the state chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Mr Musiliu Akinsanya, a.k.a. Mc Oluomo, has banned officials from media engagement about the activities of union, a top member told Saturday Tribune anonymously that while the daily revenue is enough to make an impact in infrastructural development in the state, “the money is shared among a lot of unions and people”.
How billions are shared —Investigation
Without an official response to the reported N123 billion annual revenue, Saturday Tribune tapped inside sources to seek information and what was unearthed amounts to a web of conspiracy, culture of silence and lack of accountable leadership.
Senior Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Transportation, Mr Oluwatoyin Fayinka, was peeved when asked if the unions made remittances into the state’s coffers and if their activities were regulated in any way. “I don’t respond to these kinds of questions,” he simply said and dismissed our correspondent.
At the Lagos Inland Revenue Service, Saturday Tribune was directed to the Ministry of Finance. A source told our correspondent that “the ministry (of finance) is in charge of such revenues, ours is tax. But I know they remit some of those funds into the state’s coffers.” As of press time, no information had come from the ministry.
An executive member of NURTW, however, explained how the daily income of the union is shared among interests.
According to him, an average tricycle operator in the state, on a daily basis, parts with at least N1,500 for a ticket of N100, which is printed for the national body complete with security features.
He said: “We buy tickets from the state council and resell to our members (at the zonal level). Out of our weekly earnings, after deducting the cost of purchase, we pay for expenses, which include payment of salaries of our workers and cleaners. We also pay for security. We do this every month to guarantee the safety of our members from harassment. We also pay dues to the state council.
“The mode of payment of dues to the state council varies. There are some dues we pay weekly, while there are others we pay to the state council every month. From this daily earnings, I don’t know if our state council makes any remittance to the Lagos State government but at the level of our union, I know we pay to them and they in turn remit to the national body as a matter of obligation.
“N100 is imprinted on our ticket but from the state council, we buy them for more than that amount. For example, a ticket of N100 is sold to a driver for at least N1,500 or more, depending on the location. Also, from the state council, N100 ticket is sold to the zone at amounts ranging from N500. The amount it is sold depends on the type of transporter. The prices vary. For instance, the amount an okada rider would pay is quite different from a tricycle operator, while LT and other mini-buses have different fees. The reason for this is simple: we do this to be able to cope with all the expenses. After purchasing tickets from the state council and deduct monthly dues to the state, we will also deduct ‘salaries’ of security. For all the state, zonal and branch executives, we collect weekly wages.”
Ratio 60:40 consultancy?
Beyond what appears as official protection for the union leaders and possible criminal collusion, Saturday Tribune discovered that practically all local government councils in the state have engaged unions as consultants on IGR to collect a new set of levies slammed on hapless transporters who are already over-burdened by the unions which impose daily levies on them. The catch in the consultancy arrangement is the 60:40 sharing arrangement, with the local governments taking the lion share. Traders are also captured under the council/agbero consultancy agreement, hence the regular sight of agbero harassing traders for levies in markets.
A chieftain of the NURTW in Lagos Mainland Local Government Area disclosed that the union consults for all the local government councils on public transport revenue collection. He disclosed that for every N10,000 bulk of tickets sold by the union, 40 per cent of the amount goes to the state council while the local council pockets the remaining 60 per cent, out of which it pays its political appointees on the transport board.
The NURTW chieftain said: “I don’t know the noise they are making about the union fees. The state council and its chairman, MC Oluomo, are not bothered because this is not the first time such a report would be released. If people are shouting about NURTW’s daily collections, what do they have to say about the daily amount generated by the local government councils? I can tell you this for a fact that every local government in Lagos consults the NURTW as toll collector.
“The local governments’ managements set up board for okada riders, tricycle and yellow buses. You know the transport sector of the state is run and controlled by the NURTW. The local councils realised how difficult it is to collect transport revenue from the transporters, so they thought it wise to contract officials of the NURTW on a percentage basis because they are professionals in their own right.
“So, the councils’ managements contract NURTW in the state as revenue collectors, gives its ticket to them to sell to traders in the district and they share the proceeds on a 60:40 basis. On every N10,000 ticket sold by the union officials to traders daily, N4,000 goes to the NURTW while the local council out of its share of N6,000 would pay its political appointees who are members of the board and the balance goes into the council’s purse.
“I know of a local government area in Lagos state that has N500 ticket for each tricycle rider operating within the council. Please, multiply N500 by the number of Keke Marwa operating in a local government. And that is for Keke Marwa alone, not to talk of okada and the yellow buses. A marwa rider pays between N1,200 and N1,500 to the union and out of this amount, the council has a cut. So, it is wrong to think that the entire amount collected on Lagos roads daily goes to the Lagos NURTW.”
Another major discovery is the bulk of the portion going to local councils, being used mainly for political patronage. A staff in the cash office of a prominent local government told Saturday Tribune that in the month of July, N500,000 worth of tickets were printed by the council and handed over to their consultants (transport unionists) but only N30,000 was recorded in the cash book, when the 60 per cent share of the local council should have been around N300,000. Revenues from cemetery (payment for burial space) and big markets in the council domain reportedly suffer similar fate.
According to the source, “since there is no employment to give to their supporters, elected council officials use the IGR to fund their groups and reward their supporters. This is crippling the local councils.”
NURTW reacts
Just as Sanwo-Olu’s adviser, the state secretary of the Lagos NURTW, Mr Seyi Bankole, was not for interrogation when reached. When one of our correspondents introduced himself, he said, “How am I sure I am speaking with a journalist? I am sorry, I can’t discuss such an issue (revenue and accountability) with you on phone”. As Saturday Tribune requested for in-person appointment, he hung up.
Our plights —Drivers
A driver of a Volkswagen bus, popularly known as LT buses, Akinde, in an interview with Saturday Tribune, described transport union members as the bane of commercial transportation in Nigeria. The driver said that despite the fact that he worked as a full-time driver, he had to resort to playing ‘lotto’ (lottery) to complement his daily income. He said that while law enforcement agents also caused trouble to the finances of commercial drivers, the challenge of coping with transport unions’ demands was even greater.
He explained that daily levies depend on the whims of branch chairmen in different parts of the state but an average full-time driver pays at least N3,000 to do a whole day’s work. He said, “You pay morning levy, afternoon levy, evening levy and also loading levy during every trip”. These levies, according to him, exclude the “tip” that they give to union members at bus stops where they drop or pick passengers.
He added: “I drive my bus between Sango Toll Gate and Oshodi. From my little observation, drivers who only ply that route pay the highest levy to transport union members in Lagos. I pay at least N5,000 to agbero every day. Other people who drive my kind of vehicle (plying other routes) do not pay as much but they pay more than N3,000 daily.
“Every morning, you must leave home with nothing less than N2,000 as a driver around Toll Gate. The union members between Toll Gate and Ahmadiyya are not considerate at all. Whether you pick passengers at the Toll Gate or you brought them on your way from Ogun, you must pay N1,400 to them very early in the morning.
“They will not even allow you to go and return before you pay the early-morning N1,400. That is called ‘owo aaro’ (morning levy). When you get to Kola or Moshalashi bus stop, you pay another N200 as morning levy. The same person controls the union members between Sango Toll Gate and Ahmadiyya. Any of them can stop you between these two places and demand ‘their’ money.”
While still going on the first trip in the morning, LT bus drivers pay N200 at Ile Epo, Super and Ikeja Bus Stop before paying N1,000 in Iyana Ipaja and N1,800 in Oshodi, the final destination. The early morning N1,000 in Iyana Ipaja is compulsory for only drivers who have passengers.
‘Iyana-Ipaja unionists most vicious’
Another driver, Okey, while sharing his daily experience on return trips from Oshodi to Sango Toll Gate, said: “After the first trip to Oshodi in the morning, you are to pay two or three passengers’ fare as your loading fee for each trip that you embark on from the Oshodi park. You also pay N600 as afternoon levy to the union members in Oshodi, apart from the loading charges for each trip. On your way back from Oshodi on the first trip, union members in Ikeja will demand N1,000 from you. You may not give them that much because you didn’t pick your passengers from them but you must still find something for them.
“The boys in Iyana Ipaja on the return trip to Toll Gate are the most vicious. We pay N2,000 to them in the morning, before 12 o’clock in the afternoon.They are always violent despite the fact that we don’t pick our passengers there. They vandalise our vehicles and remove parts of the vehicles. Drivers try to avoid them by going through Agege. Apart from the N2,000 morning levy to transport union members at Iyana Ipaja, LT bus drivers pay another N600 to them as ‘owo osan’ (afternoon levy).”
On the same return trip for LT drivers, between Oshodi and Sango Toll Gate, drivers still pay N200 to union members at Super Bus Stop and N400 to the agbero at Ile Epo Bus Stop.
For Baba Saeed, a driver of a mass transit bus, popularly known as civilian bus, the story is similar. He said: “Early in the morning, we pick our passengers from different areas and we don’t pay to anybody but when you pick passengers at the Sango park or toll gate, you pay the fare of three passengers to the union members. Those ones fall under Ogun. When you get to Ikeja, you pay N150 at Bolade – N50 for agbero and N100 for operatives.
“When you get to Oshodi Under-bridge, you pay N1,000 to the the union members at the LOB section. That is the section for commercial vehicles with 10 tyres and more. When we are coming back, there are three parks in Oshodi in the morning. They are Inu Ira, Under-bridge/Oke Malu and Bolade.
“Early in the morning, if you are coming back to Sango, you can pick your passengers in any of these three parks but once it is 8 o’clock, only BRT can pick passengers under the bridge. At Inu Ira, you pay five passengers’ fee as your loading fee to the union members.
“If there are lots of vehicles on the queue and you decide to go to Oke Malu Under-bridge, you pay N1,100 as your ticket or booking levy, while you still pay five passengers’ fare as loading levy. At Bolade, you pay N1,000 as booking or ticket levy, while still paying five passengers’ fare as your loading fee.
“That is not all for mass transit drivers along Sango-Oshodi route. They still pay N600 to the union members at LOB as afternoon fee, while also paying N100 at Ikeja Along Bus Stop during every trip and N150 at Bolade Oshodi during every trip of the day’s business.”
Ojuelegba/Oshodi rip-off
A driver on Western Avenue Road, IK, said: “I ply Oshodi to Ojuelegba and Costain, Stadium. I pay between N3,000 and N4,500 to the agbero every day, depending on how good or bad the day is. Early in the morning, in Ojuelegba, I pay N1,200 and N800 in the afternoon as morning and afternoon booking levies in Oshodi.
“Apart from these two levies, I pay three or two passengers’ fares during every loading session in Oshodi. When the fare is low during the off-peak period, we pay three passengers’ fares and during peak period, when the fares are high, we pay two passengers’ fares. That is excluding the N100 and the N200 that we pay at some bus stops where we pick and disengage our passengers.
A commercial tricyclist operating between Fagba and Ahmadiyya Bus Stop also said, on condition of anonymity, that he spent average of N2,500 daily as levies to transport union members in Ahmadiyya and Fagba Railway Line.
The tricyclist, who said he was initially plying Agege to Iju-Isaga, said that he left for the Fagba-Ahmadiyya route when it appeared to him that he was paying too much to union members in that route. He later found out that the situation is the same in most parts of the state.
The tricyclist said: “I was formerly in Agege and I was spending almost N2,500 daily on ticket and other fees to union members. We were paying N900 at our park in Agege and N800 at Iju park where we also pay additional money to the same union members and N150 to the local government. I left that place for this place and the situation is the same. An average tricyclist in Lagos State spends between N2,000 and N2,500 daily on different levies and fees to transport union members and they do nothing for our benefit; all they do is to harass us.”
A park attendant with one of the unions in Oshodi said anonymously to Saturday Tribune: “It is those at the top that are spending the money. We collect the money for them and they give us peanuts at the end of the day. With that, we still do one day on, one day off. The branch chairmen and the state chairman are the ones enjoying. We just make money for them.”
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