Extortion: Taxi Drivers Plan Protest In PH

Commercial cab operators
in Port Harcourt may soon embark on peaceful demonstration following indiscriminate extortion by agencies and touts on the roads.
Some of the drivers who disclosed this to The Tide on condition of anonymity said they could no longer endure the activities of these groups as it is drastically affecting their daily business.
According to them, after buying petrol at the rate of N145.00 per litre, they pay various tickets in the name of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) as well as the newly introduced parking fee by the State Internal Revenue Services, they still face that of the police personnel on the road.
They opined that as if that was not enough, a group of touts who claimed to be government agents also extort various sums of money and impound their vehicles if they failed to pay.
The cab operators lamented that the peaceful protest is to press home the untold harassment they are facing while struggle to earn their daily bead as a result of the harsh economy in the country.
Some of them who said that they were company workers that were recently disengaged due to the economy used the cabs to survive with their families, but only to retire home with nothing after all the illegal payments and extortions and appealed to the state government and other relevant authorities to come to their aid as the end result would affect the commuters in the state, moreso, now that schools are in session.