The state government, JDWAN members, Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria and the parks management held a meeting at Alausa, Lagos, presided over by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Sola Giwa.

The meeting was to resolve the seven-day protest embarked upon by JDWAN members against alleged extortion, and harassment by officials of the parks and management formerly the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Lagos State chapter.

In a statement announcing the protest which ended today (Sunday), JDWAN national leader, Abiodun Akintade, stated that the affected members were drivers of mini-buses, coaster buses, Mazda buses, T4, LT, Ford, and cars. Our correspondent, who monitored the protest for four days, observed that normal activities took place in most of the motor parks.

In a telephone conversation with our correspondent on Saturday, Akintade stated that after the Friday tripartite meeting, the state government directed that a meeting should be held on Monday (tomorrow) between the JDWAN and the parks and garages management to amicably resolve the issue.

Akintade stated that JDWAN was an amalgamation of the drivers’ welfare association; a joint arm of individual registered transport welfare groups, noting that some of them had yet to register.

He added, “The meeting with the agberos will hold on Monday after which we will know the next line of action. We will give them a week to meet our demands. The JDWAN doesn’t have parks and part of our demands is for the agberos to return to their parks, collect only the acceptable N800 ticket assigned by the state government and desist from extortion on the roads. We cannot keep working like an elephant and eating like an ant. These are our simple demands.

“We concluded a meeting with the representatives of the state government on Friday and agreed to give them a week to deliberate on the issue. We will wait till November 13 for them to put their acts together and meet our demands. If that fails, we will embark on another protest. Our demands are not ambiguous; all we want is for them to obey the May 2022 court order released where our demands have been highlighted.”

The Lagos State Government and transportation stakeholders in January this year signed a Memorandum of Understanding for daily collection of levies from commercial drivers at parks and garages in the state. The Commissioner for Finance, Dr Rabiu Olowo, noted that the N800 levy covers money for the local government, clearing waste from motor parks paid to the Ministry of Transportation, Lagos State Waste Management Authority and Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency

This is also as JDWAN has said that its strike action also continues pending the Friday meeting.

These were disclosed in a statement issued late Wednesday by JDWAN National Leader, Abiodun Akintade, some hours after the drivers’ meeting with the statement government, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation, Abdulhafiz Toriola.

According to JDWAN, representatives of the National Union of Road Transport Workers and the Road Transport Employers Association were reportedly around, “but left before our arrival.”

“We made our presentation on the situations that caused the strike and our demands. The government’s team feigned sympathy with us. They, however, said they wanted us to have both representatives of the NURTW and the RTEAN to also be in the negotiations so they could present their own sides of the story,” Akintade said in the statement.

“So, the meeting was adjourned till Friday by 12pm at the Alausa Secretariat,” he added.

Lagos drivers had on Monday, October 31, 2022, embarked on a seven-day warning strike to press home demands against extortions and harassments allegedly by members of the Lagos State Parks and Garages Management Committee.

The strike action has since caused inconveniences for commuters, who could not easily navigate through their daily routes from the first day of the strike.

JDWAN thanked the drivers “for steadfastness, loyalty, and dedication to this struggle for our freedom. We want them to be patient and keep on with the strike until the Friday meeting. By Friday, the strike would be five working days, and we are happy that we have been justified largely thus far,” the statement said.

“We want lagosians whom are our customers and commuters to bear with us as we all face the consequences of extortion. But we cannot be working like machines and few people would be eating like gluttons. How monkey dey work, and na baboons dey chop?! This must not continue!” the drivers lamented.

JDWAN also alleged that its members’ vehicles that were vandalised by the motor park thugs and were yet to be repaired,  adding that, “two of our members are still locked up at Morogbo Police Station (Area K Command, Badagry) without committing any crime. The officers in charge are mandating us to beg the Agberos before they can be released. We demand unconditional release of our members immediately.”

“We also want to say that we are amazed that representatives suddenly emerge from the NURTW and the RTEAN that has been banned in Lagos State. While JDWAN is not affiliated to both and our members are not official members of both unions, we call on the National Leadership of the NURTW and the RTEAN to publicly clarify our doubts,” Akintade added.