Anambra govt takes action as Keke riders, shuttle bus drivers embark on strike

By Adeleye Kunle

Officials of Anambra State Government on Saturday met with commercial tricycles operators and shuttle bus drivers, over the strike action embarked upon by them.

For two days (Thursday and Friday), the operators have been engaging in a protest, refusing to ferry passengers around Awka.

Their grouse was the insistence of the state government to task them N15,000 monthly as tax.

The operators also complained that beyond the N15,000 levy, louts who have been outlawed in the state were still collecting revenues from them.

The state Deputy Governor, Dr. Onyeka Ibezim, who addressed the protesters at Ekwueme Square, Awka, noted that the state government is making frantic efforts to resolve the revenue issue which necessitated his presence at the meeting.

“We call on the union to conduct themselves in an orderly manner so that their views will be heard to enable the government take decisions that will benefit all, as the state government places the priority of all its citizens in due considerations,” Ibezim said.

Also, the Special Adviser to Governor Chukwuma Soludo on Security, Air Vice Marshal Ben Chiobi (Rtd), explained that the meeting was a democratic approach in having a direct link with tricycle riders in settling the revenue issue