Crisis: Lagos Backs MC Oluomo, Suspends NURTW

Following the crisis gripping the National Union of Road Transport Workers Union in Lagos State, Governor Babajide Sanwo-administration Olu’s has immediately banned the union’s activities in all parks and garages.

Gbenga Omotoso, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, announced this in a statement late Thursday.

The statement titled, ‘Lagos Suspends Nurtw From Parks’, read, “The Lagos State Government has been watching closely events in the National Union of Road Transport Workers Union. There have been claims and counterclaims over the control of the union.

“The Government has a duty to ensure the safety of lives and property of all Lagosians and visitors. Therefore, there is an urgent need to douse the unnecessary tension generated by the leadership tussle in the NURTW and protect the citizenry from the likely fallout of the situation.

“After considering the provisions of the law, the Government hereby suspends the activities of NURTW, which must cease to operate in all parks and garages in Lagos State.

“The Government will set up a Committee to immediately take control of the parks and garages. Members of the committee will be key stakeholders in the sector.

“The Government’s position is premised on its responsibility to ensure that there is no breakdown of law and order in all parks and garages in Lagos State.”

Following weeks of continuous strife and leadership wrangling, the union’s national board removed its Lagos State head, Musiliu Akinsanya, alias MC Oluomo, according to the PUNCH.

The national organization accused Akinsanya of using intimidation, harassment, and assault against Azeez Abiola, aka Istijabah, the newly-appointed Chairman of the Tricycle Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria, but Akinsanya denied instigating members of the union to assault Abiola.

He did point out, however, that the legality of TOOAN’s operations in the state is currently being challenged at the National Industrial Court.

Following that, on Thursday, the NURTW national body in Abuja announced Akinsanya’s indefinite suspension for gross misconduct and directed him to hand over to his successor.

Akinsanya announced his and lieutenants’ withdrawal from the union during a news conference at the NURTW Secretariat in the Agege neighborhood of Lagos a few hours later.

Sanwo-Olu was also ordered to take over the management of all parks and garages in the state until peace was restored to the union.

“In light of this and the current crisis, the Lagos State Government is hereby invited to consider section 5C of its white paper on Transport Union activities from 2004, which states that the government should take over management of any garage or motor park where there is a crisis until the consultative committee can resolve it.”

“We hereby call on the Lagos State Government to assume control of the Union’s affairs by establishing a Park Management Committee for Motor Garages and Parks in the state, ensuring peace and tranquility while the matter is resolved in the interest of the good people of Lagos State,” Akinsanya said earlier on Thursday.

For years, Lagosians and social observers have loathed the NURTW’s operations. NURTW agents, known locally as agberos, are notorious for harassing, intimidating, and forcibly collecting levies from commercial bus drivers at parks, garages, and bus stops, resulting in occasional conflicts, which are unbecoming to Lagos’s’megacity’ goal.

According to a report published by the International Centre for Investigative Report in 2021, the Lagos chapter of NURTW generates around N123.08 billion annually, enough to cover the annual budgets of the states of Nasarawa, Niger, and Yobe combined.

NURTW operatives, in addition to other extortioners on Lagos highways, such as corrupt security personnel, are the bane of commercial drivers, with many carriers complaining that they milk them dry by collecting tolls at every bus stop.