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Stakeholder Hails Wike’s Ban On Illegal Motor Parks, Roadside Mechanics
The one month grace by the Governor of Rivers State, Chief Nyesom Wike to illegal motor park operators, road side mechanics and street trading to vacate the roads for a free flow of traffic and sanity has been described as timely though long over-due.
The Chairman of Rivers Drivers Transport Co-operative Union Ltd., Mr Binoye Sunday made the remarks in a chat with our correspondent in his office in Port Harcourt, Monday.
Mr Sunday said the order would help decongest the roads and also bring the state back to its Garden City status, and called for adequate enforcement of the order after the one month duration.
The stakeholder in road transport used the medium to congratulate the Governor on his re-election victory and subsequent swearing in, and commended him for the bold step he took to sanitise the state as some unions and persons constitute nuisance on the roads and streets of Port Harcourt and its environs, harassing innocent citizens, extorting illegal fees in the name of union, maiming and stealing people’s properties.
According to him, he had been agitating for such ban for decades because Port Harcourt City Local Government Area and Obio/Akpor Local Government Area in connivance with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (UNRTW) and some individuals have allegedly been using provisional authorities to monopolise the government roads at the expense of other road users.
He hinted that those who gained the support of the local government areas through the provisional authority used it to extort and intimidate the helpless taxi, bus and tricycle (keke napep) drivers on a daily basis through multiple taxation.
Mr Sunday passionately appealed to the government and other relevant authorities, to wade into the issue especially in the area of the taxi and bus drivers, as the two local government councils allegedly issued enabling operational authority to the National Union of Road Transport Workers to collect illegal taxes on the roads and streets owned by the government, thereby restricting some persons and causing gridlocks on the road.
The Chairman lamented that government should also look into the issue of double taxation in the state as many people have printed illegal tickets and forcing it on the commercial vehicle operators, adding that an enforcement team should be set-up to stop all illegal union collections as tax, because it is causing untold hardship to the people as well as show the level at lawlessness in the State.
“Government should specify how much tax transporters should pay in order to create an enabling atmosphere for the motorists to operate as law abiding citizens so as to put a halt to the illegal double taxation,” he reiterated, pointing out that most of the taxes they collect from the motorists were not remitted to the government.
He disclosed that commercial drivers on a daily basis paid N100 as park maintenance ticket, N100 for booking, N350.00 for the National Union ticket, N100 for MOT, N100 for Obio/Akpor ticket and another N100 for PHALGA ticket, stressing that enough is enough for the union to show proof of payment to the state government account, so that those behind this ugly trend should be brought to book.
Sunday thanked the Governor; Chief Nyesom Wike for promising to construct three fly-overs in the state to decongest the roads, but that on the issue of another biometrics, government should refer to their records as the exercise had been concluded long ago.
