By Okey Maduforo Awka
Over 130 Transport Unions in Anambra state may be proscribed by government following about five years lingering leadership tussle among factions .
To this end, the Anambra state Commissioner for Transport Hon Eddy Ibusor has warned that the government would not take kindly to the use of factions to extort and rip off transport operators warning that there are enabling laws that empowers government to take decisive actions against defaulting unions .
Ibusor who disclosed this at a courtesy visit of the Joint Anambra Transport Forum in his office noted that leadership crisis has given rise to the fractionalization of the transport unions insisting that they must subject themselves to harmonization.
“What we are looking for is peace and unity and once we achieve that progress follows; so government aim is to make sure that there is peace and harmony among all these transport unions and from what you see and the expirences we have now you can discover that we have a lot of unions and most important thing is to find out the aims and objectives of all these unions “
“We need to now bring all the unions under government and work with them and to know how their members are benefiting from their respective blueprints”
“We are going to close dismiss dissolve or proscribe many of these unions that are money conscious because some of them are there to be collecting money from people and that is the genesis of those factions in those unions and that is for their personal use and those that have factions that are not ready to harmonize and be one we are not going to condole it “
“All these unions in the past have been profiled as touts and miscreants but they would be given a clean bill from the harmonization”
“We want to change the narrative and we are going to deliver through maintaining law and order”
Speaking shortly after the visit the Chairman of Joint Anambra Transport Unions Mr Elvis Oliver Okolie said that the body has implicit confidence in the newly appointed Commissioner for Transport noting that he is part of the system and has the experience to manage the affairs of the sector.
“We are happy that he is the Commissioner for Transport because he knows the job and he is in the system and he knows what to do because he will deliver “
“We promise him that we shall try our best to resolve our differences at the union level and we come together in order to assist the state government to build and better the Transport sector for the progress and development of the state”
“We expect our commissioner to manage the system because we know that the system is not bigger than him and not too heavy for him and he will bring us together for the progress of the Ministry of Transport” he stated.
Similarly the Chairman of Keke Operators Association Prince Collins Ozojiofor announced the commitment of the body towards helping the newly appointed Commissioner for Transport adding that it is a New Dawn for the ease of doing business on the party of tricycle operators in Anambra state.
