Authorities in Lagos turn a blind eye while the burden of heavy union levies are transferred on commuters and returns are illegally paid to shadowy figures.
As the commercial bus moved swiftly away from Abattoir bus stop inwards Tabon-tabon area of Agege in Lagos, the driver swerved dangerously into a crowded street.Others lambasted him for making such a dangerous turning. But the middle-aged driver appeared unperturbed by the cacophony, his head slightly bent backward, eyes bloodshot.
“If we go through the normal lane, I may have to pay about N3,000 or more,” he said in his native Yoruba. “I didn’t pay yesterday so I owe some of them and they will collect it violently. I will have to pay for booking for two days; I’d have to pay for tickets and then, annual levy.” They include Accredited Motorcycles Owners & Riders Association Of Nigeria , Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria , and others. But the National Union of Road Transport Workers is regarded as the most popular of the unions.
Although there are no verifiable records of registered commercial vehicles in the state, including on the website of the state’s ministry of transportion, Lagos is largely considered to have the highest number of vehicles in the country. Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES in Ikeja, Mr Sunday said a number of his colleagues have been forced out of business by rapacious union officials.
According to him, the huge money realised never get accounted for and it is one of the underlying causes of the incessant killings and rivalry among the union members.A Keke rider in Lawanson, Surulere, told PREMIUM TIMES the amount paid in the Surulere axis is almost equivalent to the same paid by Chinedu and others in Ikeja. Ditto two other Keke riders in Ojo Alaba, Lagos.
For Okada riders in Berger-Ojodu area, the average daily amount paid to union officials is N1,000, according to multiple Okada riders who spoke with our reporter. In 2017, a non-governmental organisation, BudgIT, said that Lagos State generated the highest internally generated revenue in the year. He, however, added that there is an average of 150, 000 buses, 100,000 tricycles and 100,000 motorcycles operating in the state.But, with an average of 150,000 buses paying N2,000 daily, the union generates about N300 million daily from buses, if all dues are collected. 100,000 motorcycles and 100,000 tricycles also pay N1,000, respectively, averaging a minimum of N200 million from these sources daily.
According to him, the payments are not constant but every tricycle rider must cough out at least a N1000 daily. PREMIUM TIMES observed that the purposes of the payments are not clearly defined. PREMIUM TIMES’ findings showed that in Agege, some random members of the transport unions served as “tax” collectors for authorities of the Agege Local Government until recently.
Generally, the tax policy says that tax authorities shall ensure that their functions are discharged in an efficient and effective manner, without the deployment of violence. But Chinedu Bassey, tax analyst and civic campaigner at theCivil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre , argued that it is largely a matter of semantics, citing examples of the opacity that surrounds local government levy collections through agents and transport union members in parts of Lagos.
“But the government knows that a particular set of people are using their exposure to the powers-that-be to exploit people, whether it is called levy or dues and government is not stepping into the situation.”
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