TRUCK drivers operating under the aegis of Heavy Duty and Haulage Transport Association of Nigeria have expressed concern over incessant extortions and harassment at the hands of some government agencies in some parts of the country.
National president of the association, Emmanuel Osigbeme, who spoke to journalists in Owerri, the Imo State capital, said his members suffered multiple taxation, descrbing it as very appalling, dangerous and worrisome trend across the country.
He lamented that the extortions were happening against the subsisting law stipulating that trucks should only make payments at points of loading and offloading.
Osigbeme said, “This is uncalled for because the law and the recent presidential order stipulate that truck drivers should only make payments at the points of loading and offloading. Instead of collecting money at the stipulated points, they come out to the federal highways extorting money from our drivers and the ones that refuse to pay are beaten up mercilessly like common criminals.
“In Southeast and some Southsouth states, such illegal practice is very tormenting because our people are losing thousands of money in the process. The drivers are extorted between N20,000 and N30,000 on highways.”