The National union of road transport workers(NURTW), Bayelsa state chapter has lauded the Bayelsa state government on the Construction of the new state owned ultra modern bus terminal at Igbogene Communitiy in the Yenagoa Council area of the state.
The state NURTW chairman, Comrade Dinyoerinyu Eminah gave the Commendations while speaking with Journalists on the sideline of the Union’s relationship with the government in Yenagoa, the state capital.
Eminah stated that though the project from its conceptualization to its actualization was good, the alleged plans by the government to ban tricycles, popularly called keke in parts of the state capital was a worrisome idea.
He noted that though the government through the ministry of transportation have not officially informed his union of the alleged plans, indications were high that there may be such thinking on the side of government as information reaching him from the NURTW sources confirmed that the state government has already procured an unspecified number of taxis to that effect.
The transport union chief who also lamented the growing spate of tricycle related crime and criminality in the state reaffirmed his resolve to continue partnering government and security formations to curb the menace.
He stressed, however that his union and the state’s ministry of transport in the few past years have not had an harmonious working relationship, hence there have not also been enough efforts at terminating tricycle related crime and criminalities in the Yenagoa metropolis and its adjoining suburbs.
“The ultra modern bus terminal at Igbogene is a very good project. I again want to thank the miracle Governor of the state, Senator Douye Diri for this project.But the insinuations that after the completion of that project that there would be ban on tricycle (keke) is what we’re not comfortable with as a union. We want to advise the government to have a rethink on that plan, if at all it’s true as we’ve heard.
“For us as a union, truth be told, since the inception of the governor Douye Diri’s administration, the ministry of transport have not consulted us as stakeholders in the transportation subsector of the state and nation’s economy.
“In the area of tricycle related crime and criminality, we want to let the world know that not all the keke operating in the state that are members of the NURTW. We’ve three major transportation unions in the state and there’re some tricycles (keke) that don’t even belong to any of these unions, so for us as a union, we’ve not recorded any crime and criminality perpetrated by our union tricycle (keke).
“Even as we frown at the trend of keke related crime and criminality, we also wish to say that as a union, we’ve not had a smooth working relationship with the present management of the state transport ministry”, the NURTW chairman said.

By: Ariwera Ibibo-Howells, Yenagoa