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Menace of road transport workers union

By Yinka Adeosun
01 January 2016   |   3:00 am
A FEW weeks ago, I was in Akure bound from Ondo town. I had barely driven about six hundred metres away from the major garage in the city when I slowed down to offer a helping hand by way of lifting some stranded passengers who were also headed to Akure like myself.

NURTW

A FEW weeks ago, I was in Akure bound from Ondo town. I had barely driven about six hundred metres away from the major garage in the city when I slowed down to offer a helping hand by way of lifting some stranded passengers who were also headed to Akure like myself. Suddenly, I heard a hard thumping sound behind me. As I tried to gain some composure, I was surrounded by members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, numbering about seven. They ordered me to alight from the car and queried why I carried “their passengers” in my car. I was stupefied at what he meant by “their passengers”. Some of the passengers retorted saying, “I had offered to assist them, without charging them a kobo.” They would not listen to any explanation. I tried in vain to draw their attention to the badge on my shirt which showed the organization I work with. This plea fell on deaf ears. The leader of the gang asked his boys to deflate my four tyres.

I summoned up some courage and tried to resist them. One of them pushed me away and I fell into the ditch. Luckily for me, it was one filled with weeds. Helplessly, I watched as my four tyres went limp, thus, I became stranded. Who could hold them accountable? Two of “my passengers” had gone to a nearby vulcanizer, so that we could fix the tyres and continue the journey. The vulcanizer refused to follow them because he would need the permission of the “Union” before he could carry out any activity on my car. The story was same with about three other vulcanizers along that route. Embittered, a sense of hopelessness was coursing through my entire being.

Then I called my neighbour, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, to inform him of my predicament, and sought his advice on what steps I could take to remedy the awry situation. After about half an hour, the junior officer my neighbour had sent to bail me out arrived. After narrating my ordeal to the officer, he asked for their location. We started the search. Interestingly, they were still on the prowl and carrying out similar nefarious activities against other motorists. In the search process, I counted at least five vehicles whose tyres were partly or totally deflated, including a vehicle belonging to the Ondo State government. When we eventually located them through some of their officials at the garage, they insisted that I pay a fine of N5,500 because I was “very stubborn and some of the passengers in my car abused them.”

As I reflected over the incident, I wonder how we harbour and allow such malignant species thrive in our communities. Two different lawyers had advised against taking legal action, not because their action was justifiable, but because their nuances had become a part of our culture and society. They have seemingly become untouchable.

Law enforcement agencies like the Police and FRSC cannot claim ignorance of these nefarious activities of NURTW. Sadly, they are ignorant of the limitation of this pressure group, and have arrogated so much power to them. Trade or professional unions are established to promote the interest, as well as protect the right of their members. Where their singular or collective interest is in jeopardy, the group rises to the occasion by defending the interests of their group. Such is the essence of National Union and Road Transport Workers (NURTW). But NURTW as a union has derailed. Apart from giving passengers decent service for their money, the NURTW has no right or reason to force passengers on choice of boarding vehicles. They are quick to justify their actions, claiming to protect citizens from falling into the hands of highway robbers and kidnappers, but the group is more loathed than loved by the general citizenry. From findings, the fares at the park are unreasonably high, which makes many passengers to avoid them like a plague. Besides, time wasting is their specialization as they will never move even if it takes an hour to get only the last passenger in a 13-seater bus. That is when they will then begin to ‘settle’ fellow ‘agberos’ and then drive to the filling station to buy some scanty amount of fuel. For these, many passengers would prefer alternative transportation means. They are ready-made tools for political thuggery and the likes.

Our country cannot advance with a dominance of self-acclaimed saviours who take the laws into their hands under the guise of securing the society, and in the process contribute to the frustration of the people. They have become a burden to the state and a terror to the society. And if like cancer, their powers remain unchecked, decimation is an eventuality that is well assured.

• Adeosun, a communication specialist writes from Ondo, Ondo state

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