Just In: Lagos NURTW Makes N123bn Yearly – Report

MC Oluomo

The Lagos State chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, generically called Agberos, generates on yearly basis an estimated sum of N123 billion, a report  by the International Centre for Investigation Report has revealed.

The revealed sum could service some states annual budget, including Yobe, Nasarawa and Yobe stateput together.

It was gathered from the data which was released on Thursday morning that the huge sum of money was realized through levies on passenger vehicles, motorcycles and tricycle.

A total of 75,000 buses, 50,000 tricycles and 37,000 motorcycles are recorded in the report.

Other findings revealed that N3000, N600 and N1800 were levied on buses, motorcycles and tricycles respectively on daily basis.

The accumulation of the levies showed N82.1bn for buses; N8.1bn for motorcycles and N32.9bn for tricycles yearly; making a total of N123.078bn annually.

Weighing the balance, we took to street to speak with some of the agberos who confirmed the statement to be true. Shakiru who based at Ketu said “ We make more money than people who wear suit every day to office. In fact, we make some office people salary in days.”

On operation, another agbero said “We get rooster. Some work in the morning, some in the afternoon and some in the evening, even till late hour. Although, it’s determined by our leaders.”

However, some commuters and traders in Lagos have demonstrated concern over the operations of the agberos, as they operate without fear and at will.

According to a commuter, “The agberos are the ones that decide how much a driver charges a passenger because of their own cut of the deal. We end up paying more for same journey, despite fuel is not cost or scarce.”