Nyok|5 August 2018
The Chairman of the Commercial Transport Regulatory Agency (CTRA), Cross River State, Mr Mfon Bassey, last week denied any form of connivance with the Unified Commercial Drivers Association of Cross River State to defraud commercial taxi drivers NegroidHaven has confirmed. He said this in Calabar while reacting to the Monday 31st July 2018 protest led by some taxi drivers under the aegis of Collation (sic) of Commercial Bus and Taxi Owners to the Office of the Governor.
Bassey who denied collecting any money from taxi drivers in the state under any guise except the statutory charge observed that there was no overlap of responsibility between his CTRA and the Office of the State Security Adviser (SSA) who recently issued security numbers to owners/operators of commercial taxis. However, he informed that any challenge bordering on the recently issued security identification number should be directed to the Office of the State Security Adviser.
Bassey who noted that he was the number one driver in the state disclosed that, his office was supposed to be the first point of call by the protesting commercial drivers before any procession to the Governor of the state. Bassey went further to accuse the Special Assistant to the Governor of Cross River State on Department of Public Transport (SA -DoPT), Mr Emmanuel Mbora, for stage-managing the protest of last week.
His words, 'I am not taking money from any taxi driver. It is strictly the job of the State Security Adviser. Anybody who has an issue with the new coding, should approach the State Security Officer. On Saturday last week, I had a meeting with taxi drivers to educate them on the security implication to the new security codes, the SA DoPT called another meeting and advised against their compliance, as well as their not paying welfare dues to the Union. Whereas, none of this action is his responsibility.
'So, that protest you saw on Monday was stage-managed by him. That demonstrated that the protest has nothing to do with my office. Instead of approaching the SSA, the SA -DoPT went ahead to accuse me of colluding with the the Union. I am the chair of CTRA. So, if there is any problem, the commercial taxi drivers should have led a protest to me before proceeding to the Governor; if I cannot help them, then they could proceed to Governor's Office.'
According to a letter made available to NegroidHaven, the State Security Council directed the SSA to issue security codes to owners/operators of commercial taxi drivers with the view of creating a database of commercial taxis. According to Bassey, 'I cannot oppose the State Security Adviser. Since that directive did not have anything to do with me. I had to only comply. I did not connive with the Union to defraud taxi drivers.'
The protesting drivers in their placards even said CTRA charges was enough, exonerating her.
On his part, the State Chairman of Unified Commercial Drivers Association of Cross River State, Pst Thompson Effiong Okon, who disclosed that the sum of two thousand Naira (N2, 000) was collected for the security codes by the SSA for security purposes, the essence of the N2, 000 was to handle the logistics of the coding. He said that his Association complied with government after a handful of meetings two months ago and with the intent of cooperating against crime committed through commercial taxes.
According to him, 'We were called for a meeting with the Keke Napep Chairman by the State Security Adviser, we' ve interfaced for about two months before they began the implementation. We were told that the State Security Council have reached a resolution that they want every vehicle in the state to have coded numbers. Definitely, I asked questions as a taxi driver that what about the number in CTRA, but, but they said they needed a database for security purposes.
'We battled with government for over two months arguing that it should be free, they said no, that the logistics involved in running it, that they wouldn't allow the inscription of the coding on vehicles to individual taxi drivers so that they don't bastardise the process. They want the process to be controlled. They said it should be the normal price of N6, 500, we said no, so that it does not look as if we are frustrating government efforts to curb crime. If you oppose certain things it will look as if you are the one encouraging certain people to commit crime.'
He added that about 700 drivers have complied with the development. For him, the issue isn't with the coding but with some persons without the state colour who wouldn't want the inscription on their cars but would still want to pay the N2, 000. For him, 'it's just a cook up since some drivers have complied'.
Nyok
Is the Blogger-in-Chief, Editor-in-Chief & Publisher of NegroidHaven
