The Chairman of Lagos State Parks and Garages (LASPG), Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya (aka MC Oluomo) yesterday sacked executive members of a unit that arbitrarily increased fees collected from commercial bus drivers.
The action of the unit led to a protest by some of the commercial drivers plying the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway on Wednesday who lamented the illegal fees imposed on them.
Some of the drivers were injured and some arrested during the protest at Toll-Gate area of the state.
Akinsanya, who had secured the release of those arrested on Wednesday, gave N1 million to those injured for treatment.
He also set up a committee of bus drivers, bus owners and other stakeholders to determine the fee to be collected along the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway route.
The LASPG boss announced that there would be no ticket sales on Sundays in all parks and garages in the state.
The aggrieved drivers jubilated and thanked Akinsanya for handling the matter in a civilised way.
Akinsanya said he knew nothing about the increment, the reason for sacking all executive members of the unit where the incident occurred .
According to him, many things are attributed to his office which he has no knowledge of.
He warned leaders of parks and garages to desist from dropping his names to perpetrate their selfish agenda, saying that anyone caught would be penalised.
A bus owner, Motunrayo Kushimo thanked Akinsanya for prompt response to their issue.
“What I heard from Alhaji MC Oluomo is different from what those working for him are saying. I met with him today and he listened to our grievances and addressed them to our satisfaction. He even allowed us to form a committee that would determine the amount to pay for tickets. This is incredible. It shows that we have a responsible leader who wants good for bus owners and drivers. We cannot thank him enough,” she said.
Mrs Kushimo advised her colleagues to always verify information from the state headquarters before taking to the streets.
“We were surprised that the state Chairman did not give the directive to increase the fee. We were happy with the way he gave us attention because I didn’t even expect him to welcome us the way he did and did not side with his people. He is a great man,” she said.
A driver, Taiwo Akindele said he was pleased with the decisions of Akinsanya.
“We thought he was a bad person but he showed us that he’s a good person. He said he was going to shed light on everything today and he did so. We really appreciate him and other members of the state executive,” he said.
Oluwole Ajala, also a bus owner, said Akinsanya demonstrated a high level of maturity in addressing their issues.
“We thank Almighty God that Alhaji MC Olumo has found solutions for us. He invited us over and we’ve resolved everything and he has found a solution for us so things can go back to normal. He gave us money to treat the injured and helped release those in police custody. We didn’t expect all these from him,” he said
Credit- Nation
