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Chief Dominic Ezebuenyi
By Alphonsus Nweze, Onitsha
The chairman of Anambra State branch of National Union of Road Transport Workers ( NURTW), Chief Dominic Ezebuenyi, has decried the poor management of parks and transport industry at large in the state which he said sometimes generate into violence.
Chief Ezebuenyi, said there have been instances when drivers were outrightly killed by touts employed by contractors who have become emergency park managers just because they want to make money even when they don’t have the skill to manage parks.
He said in an interview with newsmen in Onitsha that at some other times articulated vehicles have blocked major expressway in Onitsha either at Upper Iweka or Bridgehead in a bid to protest the high handedness of these hoodlums employed by park operators to collect money from drivers.
The chairman said that these touts were not schooled on how to manage motor parks and transport Industustry generally, rather their own motive is to collect money from drivers.
He lamented that many transport companies have relocated to Asaba, Delta State capital because they with their passengers could not bear the excesses of these touts in Onitsha and other parts of the State.
Chief Ezebuenyi said all over the country, it is the NURTW which manages the park because they are trade union purely registered and affiliated with Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).
He also said that court of competent jurisdiction has declared them as the authentic body to manage parks in Anambra State, saying all others collecting money in the parks are usurper.
The chairman said they have also communicated with Governor Chukwuma Soludo the judgment of the court through their Head office in Abuja and the Ministry but no response yet.
“But the Governor invited us to his peace and justice panel. We went there to explain our mode of operations. We want to help both drivers and passengers who have been suffering in the hands of these touts,” Ezebuenyi said.
He lamented that the reason for transporters moving to Asaba was not because of its viability but because “these hoodlums chased them out of Onitsha. But they don’t have the expertise and skill to manage parks. Their own is just to extort money from drivers”.
He continued: “That is why everyday there is crisis in Onitsha. They kill drivers at the slightest opportunity big vehicles block road because of harassment, intimidation and extortion”.
The chairman pledged the loyalty of the union to Governor Soludo’s Government , saying that they supported him in his campaign for his first tenure and they would support him for the second tenure.
He said that if they take over the management of parks the Governor would see the glarung difference.
The union was managing parks in the State during the administration of late Dr
Chinwoke Mbadinuju, until their chairman, Chief Nweke Ogbodo, was assassinated in Lagos when the State Government hijacked the parks and handed them over to their cronies.
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