The Lagos commercial bus drivers under the aegis of the Joint Drivers Welfare Association of Nigeria (JDWAN) have called off their industrial action.
This comes after their meeting with the Chairman of Lagos State Parks and Garages Management, Musiliu Akinsanya (better known as MC Oluomo).
The aggrieved bus drivers undertook to boycott Lagos roads last week Monday due to extortions by boys from the parks and garages management.
The boys hound and harass them at every meter of their slamming them with all kinds of levies in varying sums.
The boys damage the drivers’ vehicles if they do not pay and in some cases, inflict gruesome injuries on them.
Besides the Parks and Garages boys, the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Lagos State Environmental Sanitation and Special Offences Unit (Task Force) and Rapid Response Squad (RRS) also extort the struggling drivers.
JDWAN National Leader, Abiodun Akintade; Chairman, Opeyemi Sulaiman and General Secretary Ajimatanarareje Feyisayo, made the announcement to call off the strike this afternoon (Monday) at the secretariat of the Lagos state parks and garages management at Agege, a suburb in the state.
According to the leadership of JDWAN, they were always extorted at about 25 bus stops between Badagry and Alaba in Orile where the boys were stationed to collect money.
“We are working like an elephant and eating like an ant. We appeal to you to look into this.
“Our branch chairmen are not looking after our welfare and abandoned us whenever security officials arrest us. This should not be the case after all they collect dues from us,” the group stated.
According to them, taskforce officials collect as much as N150,000 whenever any of their vehicles was impounded, and union leaders in their various parks neglected them to their fate anytime security agencies arrest them.
However, as part of addressing their grievances, MC Oluomo immediately set up a task force team comprising 10 branch chairmen, nine members of the JDWAN and other nominees from the chairman of the committee of Lagos state parks administration, the Oniba of Iba, Oba Sulaiman Adeshina-Ashade, to rid the bus stops of those boys.
He said the taskforce team has been given the mandate to clear the mess within a month, adding that the highest acceptable fine for any erring commercial bus operator is N20,000, describing the N150,000 fine as unacceptable.
MC Oluomo also pledged to liaise with the state Commissioner for Transportation and Special Adviser on Transportation to nip the illegal activities of the LASTMA and Taskforce in the bud.
While appealing to the chairmen to keep up with the welfare of their members, the parks and garage chairman said: “All that you complained about are true and we’ll start addressing now. We want to see changes within a month.
“Once the Taskforce we set up here concluded their assignment on Lagos-Badagry Expressway, they will move to Ikorodu Road. My administration will not allow any bus driver to suffer. They work hard and should enjoy the wealth derived from their sweat.”