Officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) under the authority of Lagos State Commissioner of Transport, Oluwaseun Osiyemi and the Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Transportation, Sola Giwa have been slammed for their indiscriminate towing of trucks belonging to petrol tanker drivers
The drivers also lamented incessant harassment and extortion by the officials.
Their lamentations follow a movie- like clamp-down on the drivers at the Ibeju Lekki area by the men of LASTMA, Lagos State Task Force and some thugs allegedly working for them.
According to the drivers, LASTMA officials together with some police officers and thugs arrived the area in the wee hours of Saturday, February 22, 2025, and started sending them away from their trucks before towing them away.
Aliyu Yahaya, a truck driver who spoke with our correspondent said thus, “When we tried to explain to them that we were not obstructing the road but parked on a single lane because we could not travel at night for safety reasons as advised by our union, they started manhandling us’. They shot into the air, shot teargas directly at us and eventually arrested some of us.”
The driver narrated how the state officials allegedly put thugs who are non-tanker drivers to drive loaded trucks at that hour of the night. “They didn’t care about accidents that may occur in the process.”
The drivers wondered why Lagos State government and it’s agencies are always after them, insisting that they pay their taxes, pay for their vehicles documents and make other obligations as a working citizen of Nigeria. They also pondered why Lagos State in particular is making work difficult for them.
The drivers called on Gov. Babajide Sanwoolu and the PTD-NUPENG leaders to intervene in the matter and put a stop to the recurrent disruptive acts of the state transport commission and agency.
They further questioned the contributions of the Lagos State Government and its agencies to support the functioning of the seaport, refinery, depot and other businesses in the area.
“What extra road did they build, what trailer park did they build, what facilities did they provide in that community to make life easy for citizens and workers?
“Any vehicle driving from Eleko to the refinery will have to turn back to the same Eleko to exit the road. There is no other link road in the area. God forbid that there is any serious blockage on the road, there is no way out for anybody.
“Instead of the Lagos State Commissioner of Transport and Sola Giwa to think of a solution and advise the government to provide an access road for people and businesses in the area, they are busy towing Petroleum Tanker Trucks and imposing E-Call up.,” a driver who wanted to remind anonymous said.
He added that presently tanker drivers pay N12,500 per truck for a single loading in the name of E-Call up system, adding that he only hopes that Petroleum Tanker Trucks drivers will not be made to eventually pay N50,000 before they can have access to loading in Lagos State Refinery and depots.
“We cannot continue to be extorted like this. We cannot continue to be subjected to this ill treatment and constant humiliation by Lagos State Task Force and LASTMA, we are not criminals, why will they attack us at midnight. What work is LASTMA doing by 2: 00 AM, we want the authorities to come to our rescue from the hands of this wicked officials,” Akintola Solaja said.
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