SOME members of the Lagos State Parks and Garages Management degradingly referred to as agberos, have ridiculed the strike action embarked upon by commercial drivers in the state, saying hunger will force the transport operators back to the roads.
According to media reports, the drivers, under the aegis of the Joint Drivers Welfare Association of Nigeria (JDWAN), took their vehicles off major roads across the city in protest against the extortion by agberos in different parts of the state.
Speaking with PUNCH Metro, a member of the park and garages management at the Iyana-Ipaja Motor Park, Mojeed Adeleke, said though some of the drivers complied with JDWAN directives, others defied the order.
He said, “Drivers may say they are on strike, but can’t you see buses in our park? In this job, if you do not come out daily to hustle, hunger will finish you. The government will not pay you, so they are just inflicting pain on themselves."
At Egbeda bus stop, where commercial transport workers pick up commuters going to Oshodi, Iyana-Iba and Iyana Ipaja/Ayobo axis, vehicular traffic was noticeably high, as many drivers came out to work.
One of the agberos, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the system the drivers were fighting had been in place for a while and would not change.
He said, “No driver whose vehicle is on Lagos roads will claim that he does not know that there are fees payable at different parks and bus stops and it has been like this for a long time, why are they just crying out now?
"They are just deceiving themselves because when they get tired and hunger hits them, they will come back to the roads with their buses.”
Some commuters, who spoke to PUNCH Metro, said despite the strike, the agberos were still “taxing the drivers excessively.”
The commercial buses charged an average of #500 from Egbeda bus stop to Oshodi, a distance that used to cost about #300.
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