Cab drivers plying Warri-Abraka route and other routes such as Warri, Eku, Abraka to Agbor Road respectively in Delta State have embarked on a peaceful protest over alleged unbearable extortion and dehumanisation against them by some agents of the state government and the motor park touts.
According to the Punch, the protesting cab drivers took to the streets of Effurun and Eku on Wednesday carrying placards with different inscriptions to express their grievances against what they described as multiple ticket levies being collected from them, virtually on a daily basis.
Specifically, they stoutly condemned the hijack of waybills, noting that whenever passengers despatch goods or other items in form of waybills through them, the touts otherwise known as agberos collect the fees and convert same to personal money while commanding the drivers to carry the goods for delivery.
They alleged that “the passenger welfare scheme Levy” is being deducted by the touts from the drivers money in the name of manifest while questioning the legality of the deduction of 40 per cent of their money allegedly extorted for manifest.
The protesting drivers demanded an end to dehumanising treatment allegedly being meted at them by the motorpark touts while urging the state government to come up with measures to curb their menace both on the highways and motorparks.
They vowed to further take their protest to the Delta State Government House, Asaba, if the authorities failed to address their grievances.
Spokesperson for the protesting drivers, Mr Overcomer Eze, lamented that they pay on a daily basis for a particular Delta State Government ticket tagged Updelta “several times” from one local government area to another “when one ticket from the state government is supposed to cover them within the state for one day”.
