By Rita Enemuru, Reporting
COMMERCIAL tricycle and vehicle drivers in Delta State have, during a peaceful protest, alleged that they are being forced to pay N2000, N2500, N2000 and N3000 daily for tickets that have N200 price tags.
The permit tickets
They made the allegation during a protest against a newly-imposed N1000 ticket known as a haulage ticket they are compelled to buy daily by touts who claimed to be from the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Delta State.
They showed the several tickets they are made to buy daily in every local government areas where they ply their trade to Stonix News during the peaceful protest held at Estate, Warri, Warri South Local Government Area of the state.
While noting that they have no issues with paying up to N1200 for permit tickets on a daily basis, they, however, stated clearly that they were tired of paying an additional fee for the haulage ticket.
The haulage ticket
They lamented it was absurd and insensitive to be forced to pay N1000 for the haulage ticket when they were already made to pay N30,000 yearly for haulage permit stickers.
Haulage yearly permit stickers
The protesters bore placards with inscriptions such as “Excessive tickets, we cannot cope,” “Union Base ‘we say no to haulage ticket,'” and “Union Base enough of multiple tickets” and chanting “We no go buy oo, we no buy, haulage ticket, we no go buy.”
Speaking with journalists, one of the protesters, a bus driver, explained thus: “There are about six tickets we are already buying at the price of N2000, N2500, N3000 daily even though the price tag written on these tickets are N200 before they added this haulage ticket about a month ago and they are forcing us to buy for N1000 daily.
“One of the tickets is for Warri which we pay N2000 daily, we have for Uvwie (N2500), Okpe (N2000), once you cross Udu Bridge, another N2000, Otokutu (N2000), Usiefrun N3000.
“If you look at the tickets, the prices written on them are N200 but we are paying the aforementioned prices.
“So if a driver was to run these local governments and areas on the same day, he ends up paying N11,500 for tickets alone.
“All these tickets I mentioned are from the National Union. With all these payments, they decided to add the haulage ticket.
“Under normal circumstances, we are supposed to buy one National Union ticket and some local governments.
“Truth is, we are not against buying the national tickets because we have been buying it but the problem is why will they add a haulage ticket of N1000 when we are already paying N30,000 yearly for haulage stickers?
“We don’t know if the government approved this haulage ticket because we are already buying a haulage sticker for N30,000 monthly approved by the local government. So why will they add another haulage ticket to it?
“This haulage ticket came into existence when Delta State had problems with the National Union. During that time, they broke out of the National Union but the National Union won the case in court and the haulage ticket was removed.
“Now, Delta State government is reintroducing this again and forcing tricycle drivers and vehicle drivers to pay for it and that is the reason we are here protesting.
“We are pleading to the government to look into it because we are already buying a lot of tickets on a daily basis.
“Everyday we buy Warri, Uvwie, Okpe, Udu, Otokutu, Usiefrun. About a week ago, they brought this haulage ticket which they are forcing us to buy.
“We cannot afford it because it is affecting us. We all know how high the cost of living is in the country. We buy fuel more than N700 per liter, then we spend almost N12,000 for tickets on a daily basis.
“It is too much for us, it is a burden that we can no longer bear. If you look at our tricycles and vehicles, they are all rickety, we cannot repair them, we are just struggling to survive. It’s like we are just spending our money on fuel and tickets.”
The protesters therefore, called on Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and the Commissioner for Transport in Delta State to look into the matter and come to their aid.
“So, we are pleading with the government to look into this matter. We are appealing to our governor, Sheriff Oborevwori to look into this matter and save us.
“He should help us because we cannot afford the tickets because it is too much for us. It is a situation where we buy N13,000 worth of tickets daily.
“We are also appealing to the Commissioner of Transport to please look into this matter,” they pleaded.
The manager of Union Base International and truck driver, Mr Innocent Victor, added “If you go to our park in Lagos State, you will find out that our drivers are running away from Delta State because of this issue of haulage ticket.
“We are supposed to be loading five vehicles a day but we can’t meet up to that because of this ticket issue.
“The drivers in Lagos go to other places but they don’t like coming to Delta State because of the numerous tickets.”
Another driver, Mr. Asema Godwin, also said: “As law-abiding citizens, we know it is our civic responsibility to be buying tickets especially that of the National Union and that is what we have been doing.
“We don’t have any other employment than what we have now and if this burden of the ticket pushes us down, we wonder how we are going to take care of our families.
“It is the haulage ticket that we are opposing. We are calling upon the appropriate authority to look into the matter.”
Meanwhile, officials of the ministry of transport in the state could not be reached as of the time of filing the report.
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