On the 10th of October 2018, We the People held an anti-corruption training workshop with Commercial Tricycle operators and members of the Drivers’ Welfare Association in Rivers state. The meeting was conceived as space to educate and train members of the transport unions on their basic rights, how to report and resist abuses especially extortion, multiple taxation and corruption from the police and local government officials.
At the event, most of the drivers and riders registered complaints of routine police extortions at road blocks they set up. According to them, these extortions have become very regular and happen at least twice a day. Tricycle operators also suffer similar fates from local government authorities who utilize thugs to extract multiple taxes from them through compulsory purchase of several operational tickets. In the same regards, members of the Drivers Welfare Association expressed sadness that the deliberate lack of designated bus stops was a strategy by local authorities to ensure that drivers are arrested and their vehicles impounded whenever they stop to pick or drop passengers.
They are also exposed to routine police extortions on the highways.
We the People has reached an agreement with the Unions to further support them with the skills and tools to report and resist extortion and other forms of abuses.