₦airaland Forum

The current feud between PENGASSAN and Dangote prompted me to start this thread about the uselessness of NURTW to public bus drivers.

Hate them all you like, PENGASSAN has shown that their union members must be treated with respect by their employers and must not be exploited. But the same cannot be said about NURTW.

For decades, the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has positioned itself as the voice of commercial drivers in Lagos. But ask any danfo, Keke or bus driver on the streets, and you’ll hear a different story. One of frustration, exploitation, and neglect. Far from being a supportive body, NURTW has become a financial drain and a source of daily harassment for the very drivers it claims to represent.

Every morning in Lagos, before a driver earns a single naira from passengers, he must Settle the union. I remembered sometime last year I entered a bus from Oshodi to Kola. At each bus stop the driver stops, you'd see thugs running towards our bus to collect money. At a point I asked myself if these people (drivers) make any profit at all. I once read a post on nairaland about how someone narrated how he entered a Sienna from Ojuelegba to Berger and the driver paid about N2,500 to them. How many people can a Sienna carry that he'll be asked to pay such an amount?

Once you enter a bus in Lagos, from the garage, to junctions, to random roadblock...NURTW agents collect levies like tax collectors without transparency or accountability. By the end of the day, millions of naira go into union pockets, leaving drivers with little profit after fuel, repairs, and daily expenses. What makes it worse is that these payments don’t translate into any real benefits: no welfare, no insurance, no pension, no legal support. Just endless collections.

A real union should fight for better working conditions like PENGASSAN, defend its members from exploitation, and represent their interests before government agencies. NURTW, on the other hand, often looks the other way when drivers are harassed by law enforcement or extorted by LASTMA officials. When drivers are arrested or victimized, they are left to fend for themselves. When accidents happen, there is no welfare structure to support them. The only consistent thing is ticket after ticket, day after day.

To compound the problem there is often power struggle between factions of the union across various garages in the state from time to time which leads to violence and destruction of vehicles of some drivers. Union thugs intimidate drivers and passengers during the fracas and the parks become breeding grounds for disorder instead of efficient transport hubs. In many cases, the union acts less like a workers’ representative and more like a parallel government. One that takes without giving back.

It’s time to call this what it is. NURTW has become useless to the everyday Lagos bus driver. Its existence benefits a few at the top while the average driver suffers under heavy daily levies and zero support. Ndume recently advised Tinubu to scrap PENGASSAN. I'm surprised that no one is calling for the scrapping of NURTW. Because If Lagos truly wants a modern, efficient transport system, the NURTW structure needs a complete overhaul or to be replaced entirely by a transparent, accountable body that actually works for drivers, not against them.


Cc Mynd44
Nlfpmod
Dominique

Nazgul:
The current feud between PENGASSAN and Dangote prompted me to start this thread about the uselessness of NURTW to public bus drivers.

Hate them all you like, PENGASSAN has shown that their union members must be treated with respect by their employers and must not be exploited. But the same cannot be said about NURTW.

For decades, the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has positioned itself as the voice of commercial drivers in Lagos. But ask any danfo, Keke or bus driver on the streets, and you’ll hear a different story. One of frustration, exploitation, and neglect. Far from being a supportive body, NURTW has become a financial drain and a source of daily harassment for the very drivers it claims to represent.

Cc Mynd44
Nlfpmod
Dominique

A real union should fight for better working conditions like PENGASSAN, defend its members from exploitation, and represent their interests before government agencies. NURTW, on the other hand, often looks the other way when drivers are harassed by law enforcement or extorted by LASTMA officials. When drivers are arrested or victimized, they are left to fend for themselves. When accidents happen, there is no welfare structure to support them. The only consistent thing is ticket after ticket, day after day.

this here. you never see NURTW taking on police when they beat up or arrest drivers

oddly enough the tanker drivers association will go on strike the moment lastma or police arrest any of their trucks

That union is just to collect money and share. Nothing more

GloriousGbola:
this here. you never see NURTW taking on police when they beat up or arrest drivers

oddly enough the tanker drivers association will go on strike the moment lastma or police arrest any of their trucks

You're absolutely right Chief. That contrast is very striking.

While tanker drivers’ unions are quick to defend their members, sometimes even organizing strikes to pressure authorities like what we're currently experiencing, NURTW often seems silent or passive when bus drivers face harassment, arrests, or extortion by police or LASTMA.

This shows how ineffective and disconnected NURTW has become from the actual welfare of its members. Instead of acting as a protective body, they just focus on collecting dues and levies. Bus drivers, who contribute daily to the union, rarely see that same energy directed toward defending their rights or improving their working conditions.

lordm:
That union is just to collect money and share. Nothing more

Exactly. And they're accountable to no one.

scrap NURTW and bring back the dark days of armed r*bbery. The union has absorbed a lot of the rouges adn thieves in our society....

NURTW are doing their job, though it is we the passengers that suffer most but those guys outside are still like security.

madridguy:
NURTW are doing their job, though it is we the passengers that suffer most but those guys outside are still like security.

Lol security you say. You're just living in denial cos everyone (including yourself) knows that their presence at parks is about collecting money at multiple loading points, not ensuring safety or order. They rarely intervene when passengers are harassed, fares are hiked unfairly, or drivers are exploited by law enforcement.

If their intention was truly to act as security or regulate the system like you say, how come they've never protested any fuel increament before? How come they've never protested against LATSMA and police harassing their drivers? They're almost nonexistent in cases like this.

They don't care about their drivers'welfare. It's all drivers welfare. It's all about extortion and more extortion.

Nukilia:
scrap NURTW and bring back the dark days of armed r*bbery. The union has absorbed a lot of the rouges adn thieves in our society....

So drivers can keep getting harassed and extorted by union members as long as it keeps their lazy a$$ busy it's OK by you?

Pathetic!

Nazgul:
The current feud between PENGASSAN and Dangote prompted me to start this thread about the uselessness of NURTW to public bus drivers.

Hate them all you like, PENGASSAN has shown that their union members must be treated with respect by their employers and must not be exploited. But the same cannot be said about NURTW.

For decades, the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has positioned itself as the voice of commercial drivers in Lagos. But ask any danfo, Keke or bus driver on the streets, and you’ll hear a different story. One of frustration, exploitation, and neglect. Far from being a supportive body, NURTW has become a financial drain and a source of daily harassment for the very drivers it claims to represent.

Every morning in Lagos, before a driver earns a single naira from passengers, he must Settle the union. I remembered sometime last year I entered a bus from Oshodi to Kola. At each bus stop the driver stops, you'd see thugs running towards our bus to collect money. At a point I asked myself if these people (drivers) make any profit at all. I once read a post on nairaland about how someone narrated how he entered a Sienna from Ojuelegba to Berger and the driver paid about N2,500 to them. How many people can a Sienna carry that he'll be asked to pay such an amount?

Once you enter a bus in Lagos, from the garage, to junctions, to random roadblock...NURTW agents collect levies like tax collectors without transparency or accountability. By the end of the day, millions of naira go into union pockets, leaving drivers with little profit after fuel, repairs, and daily expenses. What makes it worse is that these payments don’t translate into any real benefits: no welfare, no insurance, no pension, no legal support. Just endless collections.

A real union should fight for better working conditions like PENGASSAN, defend its members from exploitation, and represent their interests before government agencies. NURTW, on the other hand, often looks the other way when drivers are harassed by law enforcement or extorted by LASTMA officials. When drivers are arrested or victimized, they are left to fend for themselves. When accidents happen, there is no welfare structure to support them. The only consistent thing is ticket after ticket, day after day.

To compound the problem there is often power struggle between factions of the union across various garages in the state from time to time which leads to violence and destruction of vehicles of some drivers. Union thugs intimidate drivers and passengers during the fracas and the parks become breeding grounds for disorder instead of efficient transport hubs. In many cases, the union acts less like a workers’ representative and more like a parallel government. One that takes without giving back.

It’s time to call this what it is. NURTW has become useless to the everyday Lagos bus driver. Its existence benefits a few at the top while the average driver suffers under heavy daily levies and zero support. Ndume recently advised Tinubu to scrap PENGASSAN. I'm surprised that no one is calling for the scrapping of NURTW. Because If Lagos truly wants a modern, efficient transport system, the NURTW structure needs a complete overhaul or to be replaced entirely by a transparent, accountable body that actually works for drivers, not against them.


Cc Mynd44
Nlfpmod
Dominique

They cannot be scrapped because Lagos APC and Tinubu need them for their dirty political work. You may think they are useless to drivers but trust me, as long as they are useful to the government they will never be scrapped. And this is because our government is selfish and don't care about the welfare of the people.

These people are a huge eyesore.....

They are nothing but robbers robbing the hardworking danfo drivers and keke operators...in fact,they rob all lagosians everyday as lagosians are the ones paying the transporters..

Take a bus from MILE2 to Oshodi and they will settle agberoes from mile 2,settle at Rainbow,Coker,Santa,Ijesha (those ones are ready to damage your vehicle if you dare to stop and not roger), settle at Cele (as dangerous as Ijesha),sadiku,Iyana Isolo,..
.till you get to Oshodi!!!!!!!

A single danfo driver can make payment of up to 10000 everyday to these criminals...
Another sad thing is,these guys get their daily money by force complete but the driver might get his own target at the end of the whole day of toiling!!!

How will majority of youths from SW be employed without transport union work and free laptop job if you ask me..lol

NURTW is a trade Union of road workers. The same way lawyers have the right to form NBA and medical doctors have the right to form NMA is also the same way road workers have the constitutional right to form NURTW. Freedom of association is a fundamental human right that is guaranteed under section 40 of the 1999 Constitution. So, it is a right you cannot take away from them.

Once APC loses power in Lagos state and Tinubu’s reign ends, the death of NURTW and agberos will begin naturally.

It’s only a matter of time. This current APC govt in Lagos state headed by SANWO Olu can’t do anything to rid them.

Patience is the key here.

Ditto for the Okada and Keke too.

The union guys are just living large while the riders toil dey and night.

ok

seunmsg:
NURTW is a trade Union of road workers. The same way lawyers have the right to form NBA and medical doctors have the right to form NMA is also the same way road workers have the constitutional right to form NURTW. Freedom of association is a fundamental human right that is guaranteed under section 40 of the 1999 Constitution. So, it is a right you cannot take away from them.

Freedom of association is not the issue here. No one is disputing the right of road workers to form a union.

The problem is that NURTW does not operate like a normal trade union. A union exists to protect workers’ welfare, negotiate conditions of service, and operate within the law. NURTW, in practice, functions as a political enforcement arm and revenue collecting cartel, often using intimidation and violence.

Comparing NURTW to NBA or NMA is ridiculous. Lawyers and doctors don’t forcibly take money from people, shut down cities, assault people, or openly challenge state authority. Rights under Section 40 do not cover criminality or lawlessness.

So yes, road workers can form a union. But no union has a constitutional right to operate above the law or terrorize the public. That’s the real issue being discussed, not freedom of association.

What’s this fixation with Lagos sef ? Are there no NURTW in other states ?
You’ve not called for the proscription of Herdmen and your IPoB brothers killing everyone all over the country, it is NURTW that is your headache.

The drivers are the ones to complain not a medldlesome interloper with ulterior motives like you .
Even I and a lot of my colleagues think NMA is not serving our interests. How much more NURTW
Oga park well

Lol
This Man Utd fan OP.

How will Tinibu Lagos Agberos survive?

This is like going to the Jungle and announcing that eating of meat should be Banned.

Sheuns:
Once APC loses power in Lagos state and Tinubu’s reign ends, the death of NURTW and agberos will begin naturally.

It’s only a matter of time. This current APC govt in Lagos state headed by SANWO Olu can’t do anything to rid them.

Patience is the key here.

Lagos will Burn to Ashes the Day that APC/Tinubu loses the Governorship to an Opposition party.

Agberos will Unleash unparalleled Mayhem in the state.

If them drivers are not complaining audible enough then it's nobody's business

Even mcoluomo will squash it