Commuters in nightmare over blockade on Benin-Warri road as commercial drivers protest extortion

It has been pain and agony for commuters plying the Benin- Warri road, following a blockade on the road at Oghede junction, near the Benin bypass flyover.

Residents of Oghede and other communities had blocked the road for the fourth day, complaining about its bad state that has made it not passable.

The protest has degenerated as some of the protesters are extorting motorists between N500 and N1, 000 before allowing them to pass amidst very long vehicular queues that have mounted as a result of the blockade.

A resident in the area, Omo Osifo, said the reason for the protest was because of deaths happening on the bad portion of the road, with the latest being the killing of a man by a truck that was driving against traffic to avoid the bad spot.

“Why should the government not fix that road? We heard that the state government is saying it is a federal road but how does that affect us, we don’t know the federal road, we know we are in Edo State where there is a government, we have the local government, we have the oil and gas commission, we have NDDC, we have commissioners but nobody is listening to us.

“If it is a federal road, Governor Obaseki should inform the Federal Government about it. How will you feel, schools are writing examinations and your children are not able to go to school because of bad roads?” he queried.

A message to the Head of Road Maintenance of the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) in Edo State, Ben Olisa, was yet to be replied to at the time of filing this report.‎

Meanwhile, there was chaos in several parts of Benin City yesterday, as bus drivers mostly those driving mini-buses, withdrew their services from the roads over alleged extortion by personnel of the Edo State Traffic Management Agency (EDSTMA) and Public Works Volunteers (PUWOV).

Consequently, commuters going from Wire Road to Ugbowo, New Benin to Ugbowo, had to trek long distances before they could get vehicles and the vehicles terminated their trip by Uselu forcing commuters to trek the remaining distance to their destinations as the protesting bus drivers blocked parts of Benin – Ugbowo Road.

The drivers took over some sections of the road, causing traffic in some areas while other sections were completely deserted.

One of the drivers, Emmanuel Kanya, complained that there are not enough signs on the road to show where they can park or not and that the extortion is telling on their ability to pay back the buses they have acquired on hire purchase between N2.7m to N3m.

But in his reaction, the Managing Director of EDTSMA, Dennis Oloriegbe denied the allegation of extortion.

“We have gone the extra mile to educate them on where they should park or not park. We put signposts and they go to remove them at night. We have arrested a driver with our signposts in his boot so they have to obey the laws”, he said, adding that the Agency is having a roundtable with the drivers.

(Daily Sun)