By Amos Aar
THE MAKURDI branch of the Federal Assisted Mass Transit Drivers Association has appealed to the Benue State government to establish a police checkpoint directly opposite its park located between Benue Links Company Ltd and Wurukum roundabout, Makurdi.
Comrade Agaigbe Moses Teryila, who is the secretary of the association, made the request while speaking with journalists on Thursday on the challenges facing the association.
He lamented that passengers’ bags are snatched almost on a daily basis, making them stranded and helpless.
“This area where we are, we want the government to pay more attention here because it is a very bad zone where all the bad boys are operating. Like in the night, they snatch people’s bags and run away with it. As you can see, there is a big gutter here. When they collect your bag or handset, even with the security we have, the bad boys jump that gutter and escape freely with the stolen items”, Agaigbe said.
He also lamented that the negative effects of subsidy removal and the just concluded nationwide End Bad Governance protest were telling on them. He noted that the cost of fuel has become too high for them and low patronage occasioned by restriction of movement to some states where the industrial action was observed.
He called on the federal government to do everything possible to address fuel hike in order to stabilize the economy and alleviate the hardship faced by citizens.
