Tipper drivers protest multiple levies in Cross River

OVER 2,000 tipper drivers across the 18 local government areas of Cross River State on Tuesday embarked on an

indefinite strike over what they termed multiple levies introduced by government.

From Calabar to Ugep and Ogoja, the drivers complained that they paid between N2, 700 and N5, 600 for every delivery of sand to customers.

Besides, the drivers also complained that they also compulsorily paid between N38, 000 and N54, 000 per annum as registration levy to the Cross River Transport Regulatory Agency and another N18, 000 to the Ministry of Works, among other multiple permits.

Vice-Chairman of Calabar Municipal Tippers and Tipper Drivers’ Association, Mr. Daniel Obong, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues in Calabar, said the multiple levies were beginning to have negative effect on the drivers and the tippers.

Obong, who said the two-day-old strike could linger for a long time, noted that all pleas to the State Ministry of Transportation and its subsidiaries had not yielded any result.

While pleading with the state government to listen to their plea by streamlining the levies to a reasonable level, Obong said the tipper drivers might resort to seeking legal solution if all entreaties failed.

He said, “We are tired of paying so many levies daily. We cannot continue this way. We have engaged government in various discussions and cannot continue to pay because after each payment we hardly have anything to take home, let alone repair our tippers.

“A trip of sand is N23, 000 and we pay not less than N5, 700 as levy. This is apart from others that we pay annually. They should come to our aid; the tax is heavy on us. If they refuse to listen to us, we will approach the court.

“We have serious challenges maintaining the tippers because of the very bad state of the roads. We are the ones responsible for maintaining the roads to the sand beaches, whereas they tax us on that.”

Tipper drivers in Ikom also took to the streets by blocking a section of the Calabar-Ikom-Ogoja highway to drive home their protest.

When contacted, the state Commissioner for Transport, Mr. Saviour Nyong, who was not happy with the development, noted that a task force had been set up to harmonise the various levies.

He said, “The ministry is trying to harmonise the levies. We have constituted a task force headed by myself to harmonise the levies. We have held two meetings and will soon round off with the discussions and come up with a position.

“We are making position for downward review. We do not want the situation where we have up to four or five receipts in the streets.”