Enugu Drivers Protest Harassment, Extortion

Members of the Enugu State branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, (NURTW), Monday staged a peaceful demonstration in major streets of the capital City Enugu, over what they called harassment, extortion and obstruction to duties by the workers of the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority, (ECTDA).

The aggrieved protesters, who caused traffic jam at the popular Agbani Road and some other roads, took their protest to the door steps of the Nigerian Television Authority ( NTA), Enugu and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria ( FRCN) Enugu to register their displeasure.

The protesters, who did not take it kindly with drivers who failed to participate in the protest, chanted different songs while moving along the streets in long convoys of buses.

Some of the protesters, who spoke with newsmen, said they resolved to embark on the demonstration because the officials of the capital territory development authority jumped into their vehicles daily when they stopped to pick passengers.

They also alleged that even when they were at the designated bus stops, the ECTDA officials would force them to pay as much as N10,000, or N20,000 as fine for allegedly parking illegally or picking passengers at unauthorized places.

According to them: “This is too much. How do they want us to work? We cannot pick passengers along the road and even when we are at our parks, they still molest us. We are demonstrating so that government will be aware of our plight,” one of the protesters declared.

When contacted, Commissioner for Enugu Capital Territory, Engr. Ikechukwu Ugwuegede said he was not aware of the demonstration but averred that he was aware that his workers were in the field making sure that traffic was not obstructed in the Enugu Capital Territory, adding that they were not extorting money from people or bus drivers.