Drivers lament Ijebu-Ode-Epe tolling as govt remains adamant

The drivers plying the newly dualised 14km Ijebu-Ode-Epe Road have expressed their displeasure over the amount of money they are paying as tolls on the road since April 18.

According to the drivers, the Ogun State Government is collecting N500 for cars, N1,000 for buses, and N2,500 for trucks as tolls.

The accused the government of being insensitive to their plight, saying that it failed to consider the hardship facing Nigerians.

Governor Dapo Abiodun, in 2020, flagged off the construction of the road under a public-private partnership arrangement under the Build, Use and Transfer framework, as a viable alternative to the Lagos-Ibadan express road.

The road was opened for use in 2022 by former President Muhammad Buhari without toll collection.

But motorists lamented that after using the road for three years, the government began tolling the expressway last Friday without any prior engagement with the drivers.

Speaking with our correspondent, a leader of the Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria, Epe Garage, Ijebu Ode, Wasiu Ologbonori, said the tolls were arbitrary.

We are not against the payment of this toll, but the drivers are finding it difficult to pay N1,000 each time they pass through the toll gate. As it is now, they will pay N1,000 when going and N1,000 when coming back.

“For this Ijebu-Ode-Epe trip, you would have bought fuel of about N9,000, and while coming back to Ijebu Ode, you may not come back with up to three or four passengers.

 “We are appealing to the government to review this to N100 or at most N200. We all know how tough things are generally and economically. We sincerely beg the government to please help us because we don’t have any other means of livelihood.”

 Another driver, Emmanuel Adeleye, said, “Things have not been the same with us since we started paying the N1,000 toll. We could pay as much as N6,000 daily depending on the number of trips we go and how much we make from each trip. The toll shouldn’t have been more than N100 or N200 at most.

 “The drivers have said that if by Monday nothing is done, the next option will be to transfer this cost to the passengers because we cannot continue to run at a loss.”

Similarly, a leader with NURTW, Sanni Olalekan, said, “It is affecting our drivers, and they are already complaining bitterly. They are now left with too little or nothing at the end of the day, and we are all working so that we can have food on our tables.”

A truck owner, Adebanjo Abraham, told our correspondent that some truck drivers held a protest on Thursday over the N2500 toll for the trucks.