New Telegraph

Ondo: Battling price hike in transportation

BABATOPE OKEOWO reports that school children are finding it difficult to get to their schools over the disappearance of free shuttle buses and the hike in the price of transport fare in Ondo State

Worried by the outcry of the people over the hike in transport fare in Ondo State, the state government has announced the suspension of both National Union of Road Transport Workers, (NURTW) and the Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria, (RTEAN) from the motor parks in all the 18 Local Governments areas of the state.

Aside the suspension of the activities of the transport unions, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the Governor on Special Duties and Strategy, Dr Doyin Odebowale, who announced the suspension of union’s activities, directed the drivers to revert to the initial price of N50.00 per drop in the Akure metropolis and other major towns in the state.

Odebowale blamed the suspension on recent crisis within the Unions over leadership and directed leadership of both NURTW and RTEAN to vacate motor parks across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state and to stop collecting money from taxi drivers and other motorists. The two rival unions had clashed during the sudden increase in the transport fare in the state.

While the NURTW was in support of the hike, the RTEAN kicked against it. Odebowale, who also directed Taxi drivers to revert to the old price of N50.00, explained that new tickets would be purchased directly from the government. The governor’s Senior Special Assistant said every attempt to make life difficult for the masses would be rejected, adding that security agencies had been notified to effect timely arrest and prosecution of the defaulters. According to him: “Nobody will be allowed to sell any other ticket under whatever guise in Ondo State.

Anybody caught selling any other ticket would be arrested and jailed. We are releasing our tickets and it is only our tickets to be sold across the state. We will enforce it. “We don’t want to see anybody on the road collecting money. We will arrest and jail anybody who tries it. We cannot have two governments in Ondo State.

The governor has directed that the transport fare be returned back. My team will be enforcing the former price regime. We will not allow the citizens to be exploited. Nobody will be permitted to disturb the peace of the state. No taxi driver should hide under fuel price increase to hike transport price. We are asking them to revert to what obtains before.” Odebowale added that only the state government’s ticket printed by the State Internal Revenue Services would be sold to commercial drivers for the sum of N300.

Similarly, the governor, through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Richard Olatunde, said: “Governor Akeredolu suspended the activities of the union particularly at the motor parks, following security reports suggesting an imminent clash between the two opposing factions in the union over leadership tussle.

“The governor’s intervention becomes imperative so as to forestall possible break down of law and order. Governor Akeredolu wishes to reiterate that he did not place a ban on the NURTW and RTEAN as unions but swiftly suspended their activities pending meeting with the two factions to hold presently.

In the meantime, the leadership of both Unions have been directed to vacate the motor parks for peace to reign.” Before the government’s directive, people of the state have been groaning over the hike in transport fares. The union drivers blamed the increase of taxi fare from N50 to N100 on the upward review of the daily ticket by the union in the state. The daily ticket was increased from N250.00 to N700.00. Consequently, the drivers responded by the sharp increase in the transport fare.

The hike in transport fare affected other goods and services in the state. Particularly hit by this hike were the civil servants, who are on half salary because of the dwindling resources from the federation account to the coffers of the state.

Many low income earners, traders and artisans have been complaining about the increase in the transport fare compared to what they earned as their daily income. Many parents have been groaning over the hike as they could not afford the high transportation fees charged by the drivers in the state.

A parent, who spoke on a popular radio station monitored in Akure, the state capital, said he has three children who attend public schools. He said with N100.00 per drop, he has to pay N900.00 for his three children on daily basis. He said there was no way he could afford it with the half salary he collects from the state government. Some parents also asked about the free shuttle buses introduced by the immediate past government.

The buses which were distributed to virtually all the local governments of the state took school children free of charge in the state. With the disappearance of the buses and the increase in transport fares, many parents have been finding it difficult to send their children to school. A journalist with the state government, who expressed how difficult it is for parents to transport their children to school, wrote on his Facebook page: “It was a sunny afternoon that I needed to get some papers from a colleague down town which I couldn’t make use of my car because of mechanical faults that bedeviled my four-wheels earlier that day.

Getting a taxi is the only means I was left with to transport myself to my intended destination. It was twenty minutes past two in the afternoon as I stood by the road side to wave down a taxi, and in no minute, I started sweating profusely, busy wiping sweats off my face that was constantly embarking on an audacious and daring adventure of finding its way to my eyelids as if on a paid-mission to do so. Any ways, no thanks to the tiring energy-sapping moments that emanated from bargaining on t-fare which made me stood by the road side for several minutes. Finally, I was inside one who agrees with what I can afford.

“Less than ten minutes in the taxi, I heard an elderly woman swearing beside me. I was in awe, I inquired of her what would have brought about what I just heard, and without mincing words, she lamented about the torment and seemingly hardship the unavailability of means of transportation has brought upon secondary school students in the state vis-à-vis hike in transportation fare from taxi drivers/ owners witnessed in the State lately. “Without much ado, I made a sharp twitch of head from right to left at the window to catch a glimpse of what might have prompted such irksome swears from a woman in whom I perceived to be in her mid-fifties. What I saw drove a sharp edge in my heart; it was the sight of students in their hundreds lining the roadside waiving at taxi with no assurance of getting one home anytime soon.

The driver who appeared to be in his late thirties asked a rhetorical question whom I wish I had answers to, which later became the topic of discuss for the remaining three occupants of the taxi I boarded throughout the span of my short journey. What happened to the state school Buses purchased by the Mimiko led administration?” Despite the effort of the government to ameliorate the plight of the people especially parents, the drivers have defied the order of the state government to reduce the transport fares in the state. Although the NURTW and RTEAN officials have vacated the motor parks, the price of intra-city transport has not changed.

A driver, who spoke with New Telegraph said the price of petrol has increased from N160.00 per litre to N170.00, making it difficult for him to revert to the original price of N50.00 per drop. He said the price of engine oil has increased by over 100 per cent. He said it would be difficult for them to reduce the transport fare unless the government cushions the effects of hike in petrol and spare parts used by the transporters.

Read Previous

Celebrating Osinbajo through children’s empowerment

Read Next

OPPO launches Reno5 series in Nigeria

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *