By Ogar Monday: House of Assembly Correspondent
The revenue drive of the Commercial Transport Regulatory Agency (CTRA) and the Department of Public Transport (DOPT) is not their core mandate says the Speaker of Cross River State House of Assembly, John Gaul Lebo.
Lebo stated this when he hosted a delegation of the Unified Taxi Drivers Association of Cross River State led by its chairman, Pastor Bassey Okon where he said “It is unfortunate that both CTRA and DOPT have now turned themselves into revenue generating agencies rather than the regulatory agencies that they were created to be.”
The speaker also disclosed that the 8th assembly of the state was poised to reposition the transport sector in the state as one of its core mandate is to carry out a transport sector reform that will consider the divergent views in the industry to develop a transport system that is both convenient and comfortable to all.
Earlier, Pastor Okon called on the assembly to aid in the arrest of issues faced by commercial drivers which includes multiple taxation and alleged harassment by government agencies in Cross River State.
Okon pointed out that the harassment has become a daily routine and said that they have been left in the mercy of revenue generating agencies and departments whose operations have been marred with irregularities and complaints and called for drastic action to be taken as “Our source of livelihood is been threatened especially by military personnel driving ‘off colour’ taxis.”