NURTW’s return, failed opportunity to sanitise transport sector

• Sanwo-Olu Failed Us, Say Residents
• Drivers Disappointed With Multiplicity Of Levies, Dues, Taxes 

Eighteen months after the Lagos State suspended the activities of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), the state government last week, (September 9), approved the return of transport union activities, especially NURTW to the state.

On March 10, 2022, the state government suspended the activities of the NUTRW across the state due to the crisis that engulfed the transport union following the supremacy battle between the national body and the Lagos State chapter.

In rationalising its action then, the state government said that it to the decision to avert a breakdown of law and order.

A few days after the suspension of NURTW activities, the state government created a brand new Lagos State Parks and Garages Management Committee and handed it over to Musiliu Akinsanya, one of the dramatis personae in the crisis.

Akinsanya was suspended for insubordination, among other things by the national body.

Even though many saw the new parks and garages committee and the NURTW as birds of a feather hence no room for improved service delivery, others fervently hoped that the committee would return sanity to the troubled transport sub-sector where extortion and poor treatment of stakeholders, especially commercial transporters reigned supreme.

For the latter group, disappointment has been their lot, as in the last 18 months, the state government not only blatantly failed to reform errant transport unions in the state, but also failed to curb their excesses.

The state government, which is fully aware of the very crude manner in which transport unions in the state carry out their activities, in January 2022- two months before the suspension of NURTW activities – attempted to reform the operations of transport unions.

The state government, through the immediate past Commissioner for Finance, Rabiu Olowo, announced the introduction of the N800 daily Consolidated Informal Transport Sector Levy (CITSL).

At the press briefing, the commissioner stated that consolidated levy became imperative to prevent transport unions from collecting levies from commercial buses, tricycles, and motorcycles at the different bus stops.

He said that operators would be expected to pay once a day usually from their take-off points.

While providing insights on the new levy, Olowo explained that the N800 levy would cover charges for not just the 20 local councils and 37 local council development areas (LCDAs), but also for clearing waste, cleaning motor parks and bus stops, as part of it would be transmitted to the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) and the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA).

He added that the benefits of the levy include harmonising the collection process, by putting a structure in place; reducing multiple taxes, dues, and levies to all state agents and local councils; providing reliable data, eradicating harassment of bus drivers and bringing collaborative engagements within stakeholders, among others.

The commissioner said that the CITSL approach was an alignment with stakeholders and a total restructuring of the transport system, a development that would further boost revenue generation in the state.

Olowo who said that the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led administration has prioritised citizens’ interest in the entire scheme, further stated that personal income taxes of the drivers would also be deducted from the N800 levy, and the affected operators would be issued tax cards.

“The N800 is a single structured collection of the monies payable to all government agencies and parties, who are directly, or indirectly associated with the transport sector. What the government has done is to reduce the multiplicity of levies and taxes, dues, and monies due to the government from the transport unions. Bus drivers will get tax cards, and arbitrary payments will be eradicated once they pay from the point of their loading each day,” he said.

Olowo had barely completed his presentation when then embattled Akinsanya countered the government, saying that even though the unions were in support of the harmonisation of the levies, they would continue to collect their dues at the different locations the way they have been doing it.

Expectedly, his reaction, which jolted many present at the event showed the absence of wide consultation between the state government and different stakeholders before the taxes, levies, and dues’ consolidation decision was arrived at.

Indeed, the failure to end the era of indiscriminate and multiple collections of dues further confirmed the absence of wide consultation.

A resident, Sodiq Muritala said that the crisis within the transport union at that time, provided the state government a golden opportunity to streamline things, which is bungled spectacularly.

“Maybe because the 2023 general election was close by. However, the government did not understand that the people who were dissatisfied with the transport unions’ operational modus operandi far outnumbered those who benefitted from the process. The political class should be worried about the number of transport unions’ touts that are on the road, in comparison with the huge number of commercial transporters.”

Muritala wondered for how long, miscreants and their paymasters would continue milking the state and its citizens of millions of naira daily, while the state government appears insincere in its determination to sanitise the sector and ensure accountability.

“These touts and their masters are very lawless and treat drivers that they daily extort with disdain. If the governor does not go around to see, does he not have a feedback mechanism, or trusted allies that bring him up to speed with what is happening on the roads and in motor parks? The entire 18 months of the Parks and Garages Management Committee has been business as usual. So I ask, what is the greater Lagos agenda in that Mr. Governor?

Another resident, Deborah Williams, also felt disappointed when the state government failed to use the opportunity to inject sanity and reform the sector.

“Sanwo-Olu would have written his name in gold in the minds of millions of residents who are daily irritated by the activities of these transport unions, while drivers and bus owners who daily bear the brunt of the activities of these transport unions would not have forgotten him for delivering them from their oppressors.

“The governor, however, failed to utilise the opportunity. Many who became heroes only made use of such opportunities that came their way. It would have been a huge achievement for Sanwo-Olu had he taken pains to reform transport unions’ operations in Lagos.”

The Chairman of Federal Assisted Mass Transit, Abed Achewa, said that they had high hopes that a transport sector that cared for the drivers was about to be born when the state government announced the single daily collection of dues and taxes.

He added that when the single daily collection did not start when it was to start, they felt disappointed, and concluded that they had lost the battle again because they had made several attempts to get the state government to stop the anomaly, but that never materialised. “So, when the state government suspended the transport union, we felt that the government would use that opportunity to implement its policy of single daily collection. Unfortunately, they are back now to their familiar turf. The government is just playing on the emotions of the masses. There is nothing that we can do because the state government is the one that is allowing them the latitude to continue treating us badly. Having been mainstreamed into government, we expected that their activities would change; we expected a reduction in the amount of money that they were collecting, but all that never happened.”

Also, Lagos State Chairman of Self Employed Commercial Drivers Association of Nigeria (SECDAN), Alhaji Job Abifarin, accused the state government of turning a blind eye to transport unions that have been maltreating drivers in Lagos over the years.

“We expected a change when Akinsanya and his men were pulled into an agency of government, but we are surprised that the NURTW, whose activities in the state were suspended has now returned with the government’s seeming backing, and is allowed to operate unchecked.”