INVOLVE THE UNIONS IN TRANSPORT RATES COLLECTION AND INCREASE THE STATE'S IGR
....RTEAN CHAIRMAN
By Emma Asie
The Anambra State Chairman of Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) Ambassador Joseph Chinedu Nwabueze, has called on the state government to involve the Association in transport rates collection and by so doing, increase the state's revenue from the sector by at least 20% above what the state currently earns.
He made the call when he featured as a guest on Political Heat, a public affairs program on Alpha Radio 106.5fm , anchored by Emmanuel Asiegbunam,
(Mr E on the Mic).
The state chairman decried the current situation in which the state government acting on wrong advice, made the public transport rates collection process porous and unprofessional by involving parties whom he termed as "agberos on the streets supported by agberos in government" rather than working with stakeholders like the RTEAN. He explained that the RTEAN is not just a union of road transport employers but it is the umbrella body of all personnels involved in the public transport business and was an Act of Parliament which dated back to 1933 when it was then known as Motor vehicle Transport Union (MTU) which later metamorphosed into its current name under Decree 21 and 22 of 1978 in the then military administration of General Olusegun Obasanjo.
Speaking against the backdrop of the death of a bus driver Vincent Chukwujekwu in the hands of some public transport rate collection agents in Onitsha the commercial hub of Anambra state recently and another recent incident in Agulu, a suburb of the state in which seven passengers of a shuttle bus and the driver were critically injured when the driver lost control of the bus while being pursued by same agents, Ambassador Joseph Chinedu Nwabueze strongly condemned the two incidents. He emphasized that it is the non involvement of the unions especially the RTEAN that "bastardized the collection process and exposed passengers and road users to such disastrous but very avoidable situations as these agents recruited by the revenue collection contractors, are untrained, uncouth, unruly and unconcerned about public safety in their quests to meet up with their collection quota". He further lamented that this had also made the state inconducive and unfriendly to public transport drivers from other states who avoid passing through or coming to the state at all costs due to double taxations and harassment from these agents. He revealed that other neighboring states do not have this challenge.
Reverend Blackman as he is also known , insisted that the public transport sector in Anambra state has the capacity to generate over 500 million naira monthly as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) compared to the 150 to 200 million naira it currently generates. He reiterated that if the RTEAN is directly involved in this process as the major stakeholder in the sector, the association knows how best to professionally collect these rates without exposing road users to danger and the state's revenue will be streamlined, well defined and witness upward improvement within months.
Responding to callers requests for investigation into incidents of exploitation and exorbitant illegal rates payments by Keke drivers, the RTEAN state chairman promised to investigate the reported cases and take them up appropriately.
Ambassador Nwabueze who also doubles as the Deputy State Chairman of Trade Union Congress, explained that the TUC and NLC are currently engaged in talks with the Federal government over measures to cushion effects of the fuel subsidy removal but would not rule out the possibility of an all-out industrial action including strikes, should the talks breakdown.
