Index to Nigerian Newspapers

NURTW members continue to operate at motor parks and garages in Lagos State despite the suspension of its activities by the state government. Checks at various parks revealed that touts, known as agbero, have continued to extort drivers of commercial vehicles. Armed hoodlums have taken over the Orile-Mile 2- Badagry and the Mile 2- Apapa expressways, demanding money from truck and commercial bus drivers and commercial motorcycle riders. Drivers are at no one's mercy as security operatives look the other way.

Babatunde Fashola, the minister of works and housing, has urged drivers on the nation's freshly built roadways to stay below the posted speed limit of 100 km/h so that they can reach their destinations safely. He made the accusation while inspecting the Kano-Abuja road project during a trip to Kano State on business to evaluate the progress of the Kano-Katzina and Kano-Zaria-Abuja motorways' ongoing construction. This is the reality of providing infrastructure in a built-up environment, he declared. If you pay attention, you'll see that we have to move electrical poles, trucks are parked by the side of the road unloading cargo, and farmers are distributing their harvest next to the highways.

Truckers under the auspices of the Council for Maritime Truck Unions and Association have reported extortions by hooligans along Lagos port access roads. Despite several calls and messages to the relevant government authority, the alleged illegality has continued in broad daylight without any check. The group has sent petitions and official letters to the government, but to no avail. The COMTUA has called on relevant authorities to address the criminal extortion and activities of the touts (sic) against its members, noting that no group has a monopoly on violence and aggression. It has been injured and killed by these criminals without any intervention from the authorities, and the maritime transport industry has been negatively affected by this extortion.

Transporters have petitioned Lagos State Governor Oluwatoyin Fayinka over alleged arrest and indiscriminate issuance of fine tickets by suspended ad-hoc teams of the Committee on Removal of Abandoned Vehicles. Cash collections are allegedly collected from truck owners and vehicles are hijacked.