Rumuokoro Drivers Lament Police Extortion

Commercial drivers plying the Rumuokoro and Choba axis of the East-West Road say they face extortion on a daily basis.
Chairman,  Drivers Welfare, Rumuokoro branch, Mr Ayo Oke, stated this at a recent event in Port Harcourt.
He disclosed that drivers who ply the route are being extorted by touts,  claiming to be task force agents of Obio/Akpor Local Government Council.
According to him, the development leaves drivers with little money to take home with government also losing revenue, even as he pleaded for the intervention of the government.
“Honestly, if I may do an analysis of the situation, commercial drivers are losing a lots.
“You discover that at the end of the day if you are good in calculation, you must have spent nothing less that N6,000 to N7,000”, he said.
According to him, some hard working drivers start their business around 6.00am and realized about N12,000.
He lamented that due to the activities of touts and policemen, such drivers end up with only about N6,000 for the day.
“If you are a hard working taxi driver, you come out at about 6.00am and close by 10.00pm.
“If you are supposed to make up to N12,000 you are taking N6,000 home due to tout’s activities and other settlements including the police”, he said.
Oke explained that the ordeal of the drivers is further compounded when the operators are not the owners of such rehicles.
“Out of the N6,000 left, if you are not the owner of the vehicle you are going to give to the car owner, N3,000, while you buy fuel N3,000 and you go home empty handed”, he lamented.  He also accused the police at the popular Rumuokoro round-about of being part of the extortion.
“There are different kinds of people attached to the police that are working at the round-about”, he said.