Sylvester Idowu in Warri
Haulage truck drivers yesterday staged a peaceful protest in Warri, Delta State, against alleged introduction of daily tickets ranging from N1,000 to N5,000 on their members with the state insignia.
The aggrieved protesters, who carried placards and chanted solidarity songs, lamented that the introduction of the tickets, about a week ago, is already eating deep into their returns.
Some of the placards read this: ‘Union Base, We Say No to Daily Haulage tickets’; ‘Union Base-Enough is Enough of Multiple Tickets; we can’t cope again’, as they also chanted protest songs repeatedly.
One of the leaders of the protesting haulage drivers, Davis Ovedue, told journalists that the haulage drivers had been buying all the necessary tickets with Nigeria Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and local government areas approved tickets until a new ticket with the state government seal was introduced about a week ago.
He explained that the new haulage tickets was at variance with the annual haulage stickers their members purchased, noting that they were opposed to the new daily tickets which ranged from N1,000 to N5,000 depending on the size of the trucks.
The Manager, Union Base International, Innocent Victor, noted that their members in Lagos State were already avoiding haulage to Delta State because of incessant introduction of strange tickets which were never in their budget before leaving for the state.
He said they were not against the purchase of legitimate tickets but we’re against introduction of new ones which were already paid for in the purchase of haulage stickers.
“We buy haulage stickers annually. Why the introduction of daily stickers again? We cannot afford this and the concerned authorities should look into the matter,” he said.
Another protester, Godwin Asema, said as law-abiding citizens, they knew it was their civic responsibility to buy tickets and they have been buying but they were against the daily haulage tickets because the annual haulage sticker covers that.
“Just recently, another tickets were introduced to us which we are supposed to be buying on daily basis. We know the harsh economic situation in the country now, that’s why we are opposing it.
“It is the daily haulage tickets we are refusing. We are not saying we don’t want to buy tickets. We have been buying them but it is the daily haulage tickets coming now is what we are opposing,” he said.
Asema urged the Delta State Governor, Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, to urgently look into the matter and help them from those trying to use the state extort money from them under the guise of selling tickets.
