Abuja taxi drivers cry out over extortion, harassment
Geziah Amos was booked more than twice in less than four months of starting a taxi business. He said he used to park his car in front of a shopping mall at Lobito Crescent, Wuse II, as he waited for his turn to pick passengers.
“I was arrested for parking my car by the roadside here in Lobito and my vehicle was driven to Mabushi(VIO office) where I paid heavy fines before it was released,” he said.
He said the situation had forced him to be careful with the kind of passengers he picked because some of the security agents pose as passengers in a bid to arrest taxi drivers.
“I do not pick whoever is over dressed or dressed suspiciously. So, before I pick a passenger, I watch very carefully to avoid being arrested,” he said.
Taxi drivers operating around Wuse Market Junction, Berger Roundabout and Wuse II areas of the city have alleged extortion and harassment by officials regulating transportation in the city.
Some officials of the taxi drivers association who spoke with our reporters alleged that for failing to build spacious bus stops and taxi parks around the aforementioned areas, taxi drivers were left with no choice than to park by the roadside and wait for passengers. They said by so doing, the police and VIO officials extort money from them and also harass them.
Aso Chronicle observed that there is always congestion at these major traffic junctions and commercial hubs in the city centre due to lack of designated bus stops and taxi parks.
The traffic scenes at Bannex to Wuse Market; Berger Roundabout to Jabi Garage; Wuse Zone 4 to Wuse Zone 6; Area 1 to Area 10 are usually chaotic especially at rush hours.
The chairman of the Painted Abuja Taxi (PAT) at Wuse Market gate, Dipo Ebis, said his members were exposed to incessant arrests by members of the Joint Ministerial Task Force whenever they tried picking up or dropping passengers. He said he has been arrested twice already this year.
He said more is expected from the transport secretariat in ensuring that taxi operators have a conducive business environment to operate in the city.
He said due to lack of taxi parks, the drivers are always on alert when picking passengers adding that they have been forced to use several places as parks before resorting to the green areas opposite the Wuse Market where they pick passengers going to Bannex and Amigo in Wuse II. He said taxi business is only for the brave hearted in the territory,
“We used to park by the roadside and wait for passengers, but we were always on the lookout for members of the task force who usually come and harass us,” he said.
Ebis who had been driving taxi for more than five years said his vehicle was towed to the VIO’s office in Wuye where he was made to pay fines of about N5,000 before it was released. He said the fines varied depending on the offense. He said the ‘illegal’ space they now use could only accommodate 30 vehicles out of the 350 members of his branch.
Ebis said their challenges were not limited to the motor parks but also bus stops as there were no designated bus stops on the route he plied. “From Wuse Market to Wuse II, there is no place we can park to take passengers; we always park with caution because security agents could arrest you any time for parking wrongly,” he said.
For Ismaila Muhammad, the chairman of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) at Bannex junction said their continued stay at the junction to pick passengers was because of the understanding they have with security agencies.
He said he has been arrested more than 10 times by members of the Ministerial Joint Task Force. He urged the government to look into the issue adding that there were