BENIN CITY – As the crisis rocking the sand tipping and other quarry business lingers on with its multiplier effect on the building and construction industry, Edo State Government has vowed to apply the full weight of the law to enthrone peace and orderliness in the sector.
Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole disclosed this when the held a meeting with tipper owners and quarry operators in Benin City on Wednesday.
In his words, “I have discussed with the Commissioner for Justice that we will have to apply the full weight of the law. First is that they don’t have right to block the roads. If they block the roads, they will be arrested, prosecuted and we will send them to prison because Nigeria is not a banana republic. The people have rights, they also have responsibilities. The government also has rights. Part of our rights include the right to employ whoever we want to employ to carry out government work and you cannot impose yourself as an employee or as an agent of government.”
The Governor noted, “I also know that the tippers they have dropped cost money to procure and by leaving them idle, those who have borrowed money to buy tippers, their interest rates in the bank will be mounting and they are not making money to service those interest and of course, other innocent drivers who are not interested in politics, who just want to do their work, they work very hard everyday to do their work have been forced idle. Even those who are driving company vehicles, who are working at various sites, they have tried to harass them.”
Governor explained, “We had managed to prevail on the security people to take it easy with them but right now, our mind is made up that any further attempt to sabotage the economy of the state, we will deal firmly with them.
Your right as tippers owner to have your vehicles on the road will be defended and protected by government. Any of them who block the road will be arrested, if they resort to rioting, they will be charged to court and tried in accordance with our laws.”
He further said “There is no country where people impose themselves as tax collectors, no public authority will accept that. I think because I was very mild in the way I spoke the last time and I spoke with them as comrades, as equals and all that, they mistake it for weakness but right now I will let them know that there is authority. I am a union man and I know the limits of the union. Once you cross the red lines, you will be dealt with firmly according to law.”
So, you cannot impose yourself. We don’t stop you from doing your tipper work, we do not cause you any malfunction, all we say is do your driving work but you will not collect taxes for us because what was happening was that they collect a lot of money and this money gets into their private pockets but they use the name of government to collect those money and not up to one tenth of the money gets into the treasury of the government.
“There is no way we can continue to allow that. Because for me, we are here of the people, I told them any problem they have, I was ready to listen to them. In fact I told them, we would have regular meetings and the first one will be in the first week of November and they were very happy because this government is different, this government is a peoples government and the Governor himself is a union man so I am ready and like to encourage our people to form unions and I like to discuss with union leaders because it is the best way for people to protect their interest but union should not misuse the union vehicle particularly to allow the opposition to hijack it and begin to work for the opposition.
“The job they are doing, Tipper driving and all of that is important. We need the revenue to build the roads on which they are driving those vehicles. If they are diverting the money they collect and they are not remitting it to Government, how does government find the money to maintain the road? If there are no roads, the cost of maintaining your Tipper will increase and in most cases, you may not even be able to drive through the roads at all.
“But the good thing was that at the end of that meeting, everybody was happy. They were happy, they thanked me and I told them my doors were open. I was surprised that after we have reached that agreement, they went back and somebody informed me that they said they were not going to keep to our agreement and they have decided that they are still going to continue to boycott work.
“I had given them that long rope only because I myself I am a union man and I have a lot of sympathy for any trade union and trade union leaders. Even when they make mistake, u like to see how I can help them to regain and retract their steps rather than roll out government machineries to squeeze them. I should not and I will not confront union because the unions are part of my primary constituency.
“But as you can see, they have allowed themselves to be hijacked and they have created problems such that ordinary people who want to build or who are building their houses for whatever purpose are all stranded. Bricklayers who work in buildings whether for government, for private people are now rendered idle. The construction industry is affected, thousands of workers are affected.
“I have already discussed with the Commissioner for Justice that we will have to apply the full weight of the law. First is that they don’t have right to block the roads. If they block the roads, they will be arrested, prosecuted and we will send them to prison because Nigeria is not a banana republic. The people have rights, they also have responsibilities. The government also have rights. Part of our right include the right to employ whoever we want to employ to carry out government work and you cannot impose yourself as an employee or as an agent of government.
“I also know that the Tippers they have dropped cost money to procure and by leaving them idle, those who have borrowed money to buy Tippers, their interest rates in the bank will be mounting and they are not making money to service those interest and of course, other innocent Drivers who are not interested in politics, who just want to do their work, they work very hard everyday to do their work have been forced idle. Even those who are driving company vehicles, who are working at in various sites, they have tried to harass them.
“We had managed to prevail on the security people to take it easy with them but right now, our mind is made up that any further attempt to sabotage the economy of the state, we will deal firmly with them.
Your right is tipper owners to have your vehicles on the road will be defended and protected by government. Any of them who block the road will be arrested. If they resort to rioting, they will be charged to court and tried in accordance with our laws.”
“I understand the forces at work. They came here for a meeting they were convinced. When they report to their political masters, they told them don’t agree. If you see the way they cover some of them in some TV stations, you, yourself will know who they are working for but when we deal with them, the masters behind them will come out and we will deal firmly with their masters and their sponsors,” the Governor concluded.
Earlier, the Chairman, Tippers Owners Association, Mr. Monday said “The reason we are here is to make sure that our work goes on. Our work has been paralyzed for a very long time. So we decided to come together to Government House to see the Governor.”
