500 tricycle operators protest excessive taxation, exploitation in Abakaliki

From Obinna Odogwu, Abakaliki

Commercial tricycle operators popularly known as Keke NAPEP in Abakaliki, the Ebonyi State capital, believe they are being unnecessarily subjected to untold hardship due to exploitation, over-taxation, and administrative highhandedness.

According to them, they have been arm-twisted, browbeaten and made to surrender to the whims and caprices of governmnet’s agents who enforce certain traffic rules.

And to register their displeasure over their plight, tricycle operators numbering over 500 recently trooped out en masse to the ever-busy Ogoja Expressway in Abakaliki.

Their action grounded human and vehicular movements for several hours on the expressway.

Commuters, especially those travelling to other states through that route, were delayed for several hours while some of them had their journey truncated.

Some of the tricycle operators accused the task force of collecting illegal and multiple levies, ranging from N3,500 to N10,000. They claimed that the law enforcers made ‘inhuman policies,’ especially ones that border on where they stop to pick passengers.

Also, Mr. Festus Nkwuda, lamented that some of the task force members were fond of seizing tricycles and instead of taking them to the transports ministry, impounded and converted them to private use.

“Some of our members when they go to the Ministry of Transport to pay and take back their tricycles, won’t see them again. Some lucky ones would see the Keke, but in a vandalised state. Sometimes the battery or tyres would be missing,” Nkwuda said.

Another operator, Peter Ikpa, alleged that they were being forced to pay N3,500 as drivers’ permit in addition to some other excessive charges.

He alleged that the law enforcers ambush them at strategic points to harass them over non-payment.

“Every day, I pay N100 and every week I pay N2,000 without benefitting anything from government. If you stop at Meat Market to pick passenger, before you know it, task force will impound your Keke and you will pay a fine. Sometimes, they will even beat you up if you dare resist them,” he lamented.

Besides these grievances, the operators also protested against the leadership of their union who they accused had connived with the members of the task force to defraud them.

They, therefore, called for the scrapping of the union.

When contacted, the state’s Commissioner for Works and Transport, Fidelis Nweze, an engineer, in a text message directed the reporter to  the Senior Special Assistant to Governor David Umahi on Security.

“Meet SSA Security who is handling it or SA Transport who it is his schedule of duty,” he said.

But the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Umahi on Security, Kenneth Ugbala, declined to comment on the allegations by the Keke NAPEP operators against the task force which he said was not under his jurisdiction.

He, however, announced the dissolution of the tricycle operators union leadership which he alleged has been factionalised.

“They are protesting against their factional leadership. They are not protesting against the good administration of Governor David Umahi. But they just want the government to be aware of the situation.

“For over six months now we’ve been on the matter. It has even gone to court and the court has given order. The police, myself, the Commissioner for Transport, and the SA on Transport have all been on the matter, trying to mediate in the union’s leadership crisis. But it seems that both factions are very stubborn. They don’t want to operate within the ambits of the law.

“But since the situation is trying to cause insecurity in the state, the best option for the government is to dissolve them. We shall meet with the operators soon to plan ways to elect a new and credible leadership that will be accepted by the members,” he said.

On the over-taxation, he said: “I am not the SA on Internally Generated Revenue, but I just heard about it like you did. If there is any, investigation will prove it and we will work towards stopping it.”

Meanwhile, little drama played out while the protest was ongoing. The operators spotted a man whom they identified as one of the task force agents allegedly responsible for their ordeals and attacked him.

They tore his clothes and beat him up. It took the intervention of the police and Governor Umahi’s security adviser, Kenneth Ugbala, to rescue him.

from The Sun News http://ift.tt/2wcTdLf
via IFTTT