Adepoju Kowiyat
The Association of Bus Drivers in Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta has embarked on an indefinite strike as the management of the polytechnic ordered the reverse of transportation fee to status quo.
The school management gave the order to the drivers to reverse the fee from N80 to N50 to the effect that the premium motor spirit, known as petrol, is less scarce after a week of nationwide fuel scarcity.
However, as students groan over the hike in the fee and called for its reverse, the drivers insisted that they are not ready to bring the fee to status quo.
When the Press Club contacted the Director of Students Affairs, DSA, Mr Olusegun Aninkan concerning the issue, he disclosed that the management is not aware of the inflation of the Tfare.
He said, "the management never approved of any hike and never aware of the increase not until the speaker of Students Representative Council, SRC, Akinlabi Fisayo brought it to my attention yesterday.
Mr Aninkan appealed to the students populace to endure until the management settles the arising matter.
He, however, stated that the Rector, Dr. Adeoye Odedeji has ordered the inclusion of other two BRT known as MACOPOLO to the existing two, so as to ease the transportation stress the students are undergoing.
Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Association of Bus drivers in the school, Mr Adesanya Sesan explained the reasons behind the hike in Tfare of the students.
He noted that the hike is due to the fuel scarcity crisis, price of motor spare parts and deplorable state of the road.
He said, "we do not rely on fuel alone but also maintenance of our vehicles and the condition of the road is not helping matters.
"I could remember I bought the engine of my car for 70,000 naira but presently,it is now 150,000 . We felt if we don’t take a step to increase the fee, it will definitely affect us.
Mr Sesan further added that they had to stop work because the DSA ordered them to return the price to N50 which will not favor the drivers.
He said, "We followed the instruction of the DSA that says, ‘if we cannot take it back to normal price, then we should take our buses and go away’."
