November 14, (THEWILL) – Mr Kolawole Balogun is an intra-city commercial vehicle operator in Lagos. He drives an 18-seater bus that plies First Gate, a popular bus-stop near the Lagos State University (LASU) to Badagry – a distance of about 40 kilometres. The fare is N500 per passenger, amounting to N9,000 per trip. But he parts with N2,000 at the garage, which is paid to the members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) referred to as Agberos, a street name for a lawless group that extorts commercial vehicle operators – buses, tricycles and motor-cycles (Okada). The fee is called “owo-load” (loading fee) or commission. No receipt is issued and no argument is entertained about it. It is “statutory”.
Balogun buys fuel at N2,000 or N2,500 per trip, depending on the traffic situation. He pays N50 at 10 road blocks erected by transit ‘agberos’ and 10 checkpoints mounted by policemen on the same route, making it N1,000. This leaves him with N3,500 per trip. He makes between three and five trips a day. With an average of four trips, Balogun goes home with N14,000, one way, or N28,000 return trip representing 38.8 percent of the total fare he realises per day either way. Sometimes, the motor park ‘agberos’ impose special levies of up to N2,000 on the drivers per trip for a “project” or for an “emergency”. The number of road blocks created by transit agberos and security agencies also increases, sometimes up to seven, within the route.
Mr Balogun’s vehicle broke down recently and he did not operate for three working days. Besides losing the daily income, he spent N108,000 to fix and service the vehicle before resuming work. “The cost cleared my savings because it happened when my vehicle particulars were due for renewal and I spent about N50,000 on that. The agberos were not concerned about my plight. If they could, they would tell me to pay arrears for the days I did not work because all they want is the money,” Balogun told THEWILL last week.
At Egbeda in Alimosho Local Government Area, Francis Ikhazobor, who operates the 10-kilometre route explained to THEWILL that he and his group labour for ‘agberos’ and that their case is helpless. Ikhazobor drives a 7-seater mini-bus that earns him N1,400 per trip with a passenger fare of N200 each. He pays N400 to agberos on loading, buys fuel at N2,000, gives N100 to Police and N200 to Ikeja agberos. The operator parts with N700 out of N1,400 realised in the trip.
Balogun and Ikhezobor represent the experience of Lagos commercial vehicle operators. THEWILL visited various vehicle parks and interviewed tricycle (Keke) and Okada operators who lamented their ordeal in the hands of agberos that conduct themselves like an alternate government in a manner that makes brutality a way of life.
“They are above the law. They are red-eyed and know no mercy. They are the law themselves and what they say must be done. It is foolish to argue with an agbero or Alaye because they can snuff life out of you and nothing will happen,” Kenneth Korie, a tricycle operator, told THEWILL at Agege. He said the level of extortion by ‘agberos’ against his group is pitiable because “the roads are killing our machine, agberos are taking the little left to maintain the machine. Little is left to pay the owner for the day’s returns,” Korie lamented.
“Transportation would have been a lucrative business in Lagos, but there are many challenges, the worst being the extortion by agberos. The money they take from us is what we need to maintain our vehicles. If the road is bad, the cost of living is high, cost of maintaining the vehicle is high, yet the little you earn you share with someone who contributes nothing but pains to your business, it is clear that you are working for them,” a middle-aged man, Thompson Bakare said, during an interview with THEWILL at Yaba.
He said many of his colleagues cannot maintain their families because of lean resources. He added that the pressure the job exerts on them affects their health and that many of them break down easily. “When you take ill, you are on your own. The agbero who reaps where he has not sown does not care about how you feel”. Yet the motor vehicle operators are eager to do their job even when it is the agbero that takes the greater portion of the proceeds.
Bizarre Revelations
A recent research report by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) revealed that agberos in Lagos generate an estimated annual revenue of N123.078 billion, amassed from daily road fees and levies they impose on commercial vehicle operators – buses, tricycles and motorcycles. The extortion in the name of ‘fees’, ‘commissions’ and ‘taxes’ are carried out in the following way:
Levies on commercial buses (Danfo)
Each commercial vehicle driver pays at least N3,000 to ‘Agberos’ as ticket fee.
There are an estimated 75,000 commercial buses operating in Lagos, according to the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA).
Estimated daily total collection: N225 million
Estimated monthly total collection: N6.75 billion
Estimated yearly total collection: N82.125 billion
Levies on commercial tricycle operators (Keke NAPEP)
Each tricycle rider pays at least N1,800 to Agberos per day.
There are an estimated 50,000 tricycles operating in Lagos, according to TechCabal.
Estimated daily total collection: N90 million
Estimated monthly total collection: N2.7 billion
Estimated yearly total collection: N32.85 billion
Levies on commercial motorcycle operators (Okada)
Each Okada rider pays at least N600 to Agberos per day.
There is an estimated 37,000 ‘Okada’ riders operating in Lagos, according to the Motorcycle Operators Association of Lagos State (MOALS).
Estimated daily total collection: N22.2 million
Estimated monthly total collection: N666 million
Estimated yearly total collection: N8.103 billion
The total annual revenue from the three major modes of transport in Lagos State amounts to N123.078 billion. The ICIR report admitted that these figures may yet be underestimated as daily levies on the transporters are much higher in some parts of Lagos.
According to the report, there was no trace that much of this revenue gets into government coffers as the money was not accounted for in the state’s annual financial statements.
The report further revealed that “although the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) says on its website that ‘road taxes’ are among the 25 taxes that are collected by the state government the government agency provides no evidence on the website that road taxes are being collected by the state government.”
The report further revealed that although part of the revenue was being remitted to the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and to the rival union, the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, the bulk of the money being generated ended up in private pockets.
“The [motor park] chairman takes the huge chunk of the money, shares the rest to his subordinates and leaves little in an account operated by his union,” it stated.
The ICIR report revealed that more than 60 tricycle drivers in 21 Local Council Development Areas LCDAs disclosed that they paid at least N1,800 to Agberos each day.
“This, therefore, means that each day, agberos walk off with N90 million from transport taxes collected from tricycle drivers. Every month, their pay reaches N2.7 billion, rising further to N32.85 billion every year.
“The average collection, however, is higher in Mushin (N2,500 – N3300), Isolo (N1,900-N2,200), Oshodi (N1800-N2,300), Coker/Aguda (N2200-N3,000) Itire/ Ikate (N2,200 -N3,200), Iru-Victoria (N2,300-N3,200), Ikeja (N2200- N2500), and Onigbongbo (N2200-N3,000) LCDAs, among others,” the report revealed.
“They often collect the money by force. Sometimes you pay in their make-shift offices, at other times you hand them the cash,” ICIR said, quoting a tricycle operator in Mushin.
The brutality that underlies the activities of NURTW in all parts of the country exceeds comprehension. The ease with which they have their way in their nefarious activities baffles well-meaning Nigerians who marvel at their level of impunity and abuse of power. Of more concern is that NURTW is an affiliate of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), meaning that it is organised by the government. “It is a misnomer to categorise them among the affiliates of the NLC given their lawless culture and crude behaviour”, said Isaac Marizu, a legal Practitioner.
Marizu told THEWILL that giving official recognition to thugs as organised labour is disheartening. But officials of NURTW take exception to members of their groups being referred to as thugs or agberos. A national official of NURTW, Segun Falade Emmanuel, who spoke to THEWILL from Abuja, frowned against associating their members with extortion , stressing that sufficient evidence should be provided to support the allegations of extortion against their members in Lagos.
“Those shouting extortion should come with evidence. What is the evidence – a video image? A picture? Is there a petition from anybody alleging extortion? A person who claims he is a victim of extortion should come up with a proof. You cannot judge another man’s case and claim you stand on the part of truth when there is no evidence,” Emmanuel told THEWILL on telephone. Marizu said NURTW and its sister groups, Road Transport Employers Association (RTEA) and National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) often engage in acts of lawlessness which suggests that they are made up of people with less concern for human dignity.
When contacted, the National President of NARTO, Alhaji Lawal Yusuf Othman, was said to be in a meeting according to his aide, Fatai Afolabi. Calls made to RTEAN office were not answered.
A visit to the popular vehicle parts market at Ladipo in Mushin LGA showed there is high demand for spare parts for public transport vehicles, especially buses. They are also more expensive than before, according to vehicle operators who spoke to THEWILL. “Lagos roads are bad, very bad. This is a major cause of vehicle breakdown. Yet, Agberos continue to milk us dry, Ikhazobor said.
Investigation by THEWILL showed that some Lagos vehicle park chairmen go home with about N20,000 daily, and their lieutenants pocket about N10,000 – all tax free. “While they increase, we depreciate”, said Funsho Akinlade, a bus driver at the busy Ojuelegba park in Surulere. Akinlade said they are labouring for agbero to earn a living.
Lagos State IGR as of December 31, 2020 was N148.96 billion out of which road tax accounted for N12.13 billion (or 8.25 percent of IGR) as against estimated annual N123.07 billion amassed by agberos.
About the Author
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
