Owners of luxury buses at the weekend protested alleged harassment, robbery and extortion by suspected produce toll collectors on the highways, especially Benue and Ebonyi State roads.
The protesters, under the auspices of the Association of Luxury Bus Owners of Nigeria (ALBON), gave the Federal and state governments 14 days to dismantle all road blocks mounted by produce toll collectors.
Chairman of ALBON Taskforce Uchenna Maduakor addressed reporters in Onitsha, Anambra State. He was supported by Chukwuma Nwolisa (Osinachi Motors) and Afamefuna Aboaja (Ifeanyoluchukwu Motors). They threatened to use their buses to block highways on expiration of the ultimatum.
Maduakor alleged that some of their drivers and passengers were beaten and their vehicles robbed in isolated areas. They also experienced delayed journeys due to road blocks by soldiers, police and produce toll collectors.
He said: “A journey of four hours will take eight hours. The problem is not even the money they collect, but the delay and sometimes the beating of our drivers for no just cause.
“The worst routes are Aliede to Gboko, Benue State, and Abakaliki to Ogoja in Ebonyi State. We pass Ebonyi to Ogoja to Benue due to bad roads. It was on that route that Ifeanyichukwu and Chukwudi buses were attacked and damaged.
“We no longer talk of robbers but produce toll collectors who attack us on the highway. They rob us and our passengers in the day. Besides, we pay revenue at the park where we load as luxury bus, not lorry buses, but they will insist we pay them on the road and, when we pay say N2,000, they will beat the driver or smash the vehicle, claiming the amount is too small.”
