National Transport Commission (NTC) has been severally longed for to serve as the regulatory body for the transport sector in Nigeria at least to minimise if cannot completely eradicate the mess and impunity that pervades the sector all the years long.
If the bill that seeks to establish the commission which has been trapped in the National Assembly for this long without an identifiable cause can be given the breath of life, what a relief for Nigerians.
This is so because the masses have suffered so much in the hands of transporters who decide what they charge as fares as it suits them not minding the feelings of people.
In Lags for instance, commuters go to work in the morning with certain amount of money only to discover that going back after the close of work, the same distance will attract a higher fare for no reason other than the fact that there are many passengers at the bus stop.
Is this supposed to be a crime? Definitely not but because of lack of a regulatory body, the public transporters take laws into their hands and get away with it.
However, the NTC bill has been in the National Assembly for long enough to be deliberated upon; one still wonders what happened to the bill and why it has not become an Act considering the harrowing and tempestuous experience of commuters in Nigeria.
Recently, a young lady was travelling to the village to see her grandmother, a place she visited many times over only to get to the park and told the fare had been jerked up without any appreciable reason. Funny enough, what she had was barely enough to take her to the village from her own calculation before leaving home.
Perturbed, she did not know what to do but resorted to begging so that her journey could continue as it was urgent and important. Such is the plight of ordinary Nigerians who life and daily endeavours are at the mercy of God.
This has caused so much instability in the spending culture of peasant workers thereby leaving them with little or nothing to save or leave.
A young woman who works as a clerk in a clearing firm last week refused to take her lunch because of the fear of fare as she did not want to be stranded since she was not sure what the commercial transporters would come up with when she would be going home.
Nigerians cannot wait for the passage of the bill already with the legislators in order to salvage the situation from further degenerating.
National Transport Commission,
where are thou?
