Some members of the Lagos State Parks and Garages Management, aka agberos, have ridiculed the strike action embarked upon by commercial drivers in the state, saying hunger will force the transport operators back to the roads.
The drivers, under the aegis of the Joint Drivers Welfare Association, took their vehicles off major roads across the city in protest against the extortion by agberos in different parts of the state.
Speaking with PUNCH Metro, a member of the park and garages management at the Iyana-Ipaja Motor Park, Mojeed Adeleke, said though some of the drivers complied with JDWAN directives, others defied the order.
He said, “Drivers may say they are on strike, but can’t you buses in our park? In this job, if you do not come out daily to hustle, hunger will finish you. The government will not pay you, so they are just inflicting pain on themselves.”
At Egbeda, where commercial transport workers pick up commuters going to Oshodi, Iyana-Iba and Iyana Ipaja/Ayobo axis, vehicular traffic was noticeably high, as many drivers came out to work.
One of the agberos, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the system the drivers were fighting had been in place for a while and would not change.
He said, “No driver whose vehicle is on Lagos roads will claim that he does not know that there are fees payable at different parks and bus stops and it has been like this for a long time, why are they just crying out now?
“They are just deceiving themselves because when they get tired and hunger hits them, they will come back to the roads with their buses.”
Some commuters, who spoke to PUNCH Metro, said despite the strike, the agberos were still “taxing the drivers excessively.”
A commuter, Nzube Monye, who has a shop at Oshodi, said, “These people will never leave the road because they are used to free money and the only thing that we have is just the increase in transport fares to different places.”
Around 8am on Wednesday, PUNCH Metro observed that the Iyana Ipaja end of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway was crowded with commuters running after the few available buses.
The commercial buses charged an average of N500 from the junction to Oshodi, a distance that used to cost about N300.
The state Commissioner for Transport, Frederic Oladehinde, could not be reached for comment as his phone rang out.
The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, was also not available for comments.
The Chairman of the Lagos State Parks and Garages Committee, Musiliu Akinsanya, aka MC Oluomo, and his aide, Jimoh Buari, did not also respond to calls and text messages from our reporter.
