Transport Fare Hike in Akure; Passengers sad, drivers happy?
By Seye Fakinlede
On the 9th of February, 2020, one Tolu, a student of Saint Michael’s had budgeted 50 naira for her usual school junction only to be shocked with the outrageous fare from the taxi drivers most importantly, their undeterred defiance to the pleas of their passangers. All she did was gawk at each vehicles, mouth agaped, hands folded, as she and her colleagues pleaded for a price reduction. According to her, what her parent budgeted was #100 for her daily transport.
This was similar to Akin’s case. A tailor who has his shop in Alakure area of Ijoka but lives in Oluwatuyi.
His daily budget was #100 for transport but on one Tuesday, he too was shocked with the realities of the new price , claiming it was unfair, unjust and that he would be unable to cope with the new normal.
“Why would the drivers consent to that? Why didn’t they protest against the new policy? We as tailor members protested one time when our Union wanted to increase what we pay. The drivers should have done likewise. I have no choice than to start waking up early , attach myself with a truck plying my route for a free ride. That will become my new normal,” the lamenting tailor said.
According to reports, it was revealed that the hike in taxi fares was necessary because of the increase in their daily ticket from #250 to #700.
Unperturbed was a taxi driver. He said, ” the price is not our doing. The price of the ticket was escalated, and we also need to survive. A drop is now hundred naira, and no one should carry anyone below like that rate for uniformity.”
Another said ” It is the rumoured price of the petrol, then the ticket. ”
While inquiring why most taxi drivers are in support of the hiked fare and why some are not yeilding to the plea of their passangers even for short trips, one said, ” I paid
#5000 recently. Some union members got into my taxi feigning to be passengers and when I beat the price down for them, I was billed #5000 for breaching the new agreement.”
In Akure, Ondo State, drivers either belong to the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) or the Road Transport Employeers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN).
While the NURTW, under the leadership of Jacob Adebo increased the cost of a drop in Akure even including short distances to #100 per drop, the drivers who belong to RTEAN, under the leadership of Mr Adewale Bolarinwa, according to their chairman still maintained the cost of a drop pegged at #50. Yet, the decision of this other group is not without a backlash on their union.
A fifty something woman said, ” some taxi drivers are becoming extortionists with the new fare hike saga. A Drop fee is now 100 naira, yet, some are even taking some normal distance which they initially charged for #100 for some outrageous fair likw like # 150.”
Similarly, while commenting on the hike in a Press Release by the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP), Ag. Director of Media and Publicity, Leye Igbabo, he noted that “the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State is irked by the arbitrary hike in taxi fare from N50 to N100 per short distance in Akure, the State capital due to increment of the daily levy for taxi drivers from N250 to N700 by the leadership of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) under Jacob Adebo popularly known as Idajo.
The release noted that the hike and the maleficent levy on taxi drivers was to
compensate Idajo for his ignoble roles during the election, while it recalled that Ondo State workers were already under the 50% salaries, despite its recent irregularities.
“Our party thinks that instead of further overburdening the people who are only making ends meet amidst a ravaging pandemic, general unemployment and economic doldrums, the government should have looked inwards by blocking all the loopholes and conduit pipe through which the State resources are being fleeced uncontrollably,” Leye Igbabo stressed.
The party however charged the people of Ondo State to endure for a little while as they pray for the break of a new dawn.
However, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transport Mr. Tobi Ogunleye had debunked the rumours of government involvement in the hike in an interview he granted the Press.. While the Special Adviser blamed the union for the discomfort, he vowed that the government would see to the surcharge which he described as an “embarrassing” hearsay.
Yet, a source who spoke with this reporter in confidence insisted that the government is aware of the sudden hike, stating that the new ticket hike is more money for the government using the union as camouflage.
Though the unbecoming
taxi fare is now the new normal in Akure, how will passengers cope considering the fact that civil servants are now at the receiving end of half of their monthly salary? Some distances that were not so long used to be negotiated fare wise by commuters but not anymore with the hike in transport fare. Will passengers boycott the hike and treck in defiance or just follow the newly imposed statusquo? Will Ondo State government call the union to order? More and more questions are flowing in the air and begging for answers both from the Ondo NURTW leadership and Ondo State government.
