The menace of the iniquitous garage-cum-roadside touts, popularly known as ‘agberos’, has come to a head. Their heinous activities have hit a tailspin, necessitating the urgent intervention of the authorities before they transform into another nightmarish national albatross.
The tragic death of a couple and their two children in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, last Wednesday in bizarre and ludicrous circumstances connected with some suspected Abuja touts is, indeed, a sad reminder that these irritant commercial agents must be tamed now or never.
The family of four reportedly met their grisly end as they were being heckled by suspected Abuja touts. According to reports, the victims were travelling in a private car when the driver briefly stopped at Berger Roundabout, Wuse, to pick up a relative. The action reportedly irked the touts, who confronted the driver for breaking their “rules.”
The altercation degenerated, following which some of the touts forced themselves into the couple’s car. In the process of wrestling the steering wheel with the driver, the car lost control and rammed into a bridge pillar. The impact was so fatal that the entire family of four died instantly.
The residents of the area were so enraged by the ghoulish sight that they resorted to instant jungle justice. They chased down some of the touts, instantly lynching at least one of them. A report said three of the hoodlums were set ablaze by the irate mob.
This is one insufferable nuisance associated with the touts too many. The egregious activities of those non-state urchins, who harass and extort motorists and other road users, in cahoots with transport unions, have for a long time been disrupting the peace and upending traffic in many of our cities.
Mabushi-Bannex area of the FCT where the family of four died is regarded as a particularly notorious haven for roadside touts, who target private cars for extortion. They position themselves strategically by the roadsides to ambush and extort any private car that parks or picks any passenger. And they are said to be very reckless and merciless in their operations.
A commercial driver plying the area said: “If they (agberos) catch you, no matter who you are, you must pay or they will take you to their base at Jabi Garage.”
These touts are non-state actors but they derive strength and legitimacy from the transport unions, the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), being the most visible and organized, tacitly backed by some state governments and politicians.
This is precisely the source of their audacity and staying power, which also explains why it has been difficult to tame them. They are used mainly by politicians who empower them as thugs and ‘security operatives’ during electioneering.
The concept of garage touting used to be one of the predominantly unique features that hallmarked the fast lane of Lagos life, a semi-vocation that provided a succour of a sort for street urchins, most of who ran away from home, to eke out a living either as bus conductors or garage touts to vent for passengers.
However, with the subterranean patronage from politicians who use them for election purposes, the touting ‘business’ became more organized and inched gradually into other major cities in the South West. Now, the insidious cancer has infected many parts of the country, including the FCT.
By their modus operandi, the “agberos,” or garage touts are part of the city transport hubs. They are mostly engaged by transport unions to coerce and extort commercial vehicle drivers in the name of the daily revenue collections from drivers of buses, motorcycles and tricycles.
Often scuzzy in appearance and high on drugs and booze that sufficiently coarsen them, the touts are inured to violence and intimidation in collecting the daily illegal levies.
They physically obstruct commercial vehicles, forcing payment in exchange for allowing the drivers to proceed. They (drivers) often pay the amounts demanded with evident reluctance, having learned that resisting can lead to physical harm or further harassment.
The touts’ nuisance is legendary. They are more or less lords unto themselves. They cause needless gridlocks and pick up tangles in motor parks, on the roads as well as major bus stops because of their mercurial temperament and irascible nature, accentuated by illicit drug influence.
Violence is their second skin. Owing to the opulent lifestyle that transport union activities afford the leaders, leadership change in the unions is war unlimited. Gang wars to take over garages are common among them.
The union revenue agents called ‘agberos’ rake in humongous funds through the illegal dues they extort from the various drivers. In Lagos, the estimates run into billions every year.
The International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) was quoted by a national daily as having estimated in 2021 that “with 75,000 commercial buses in Lagos whose drivers pay N3,000 each daily; and N1,800 by each tricycle driver to ticket touts every day, the ‘agberos’ fleece Lagosians of N123 billion annually through the illegal levies”!
It is time we put paid to the touts’ shenanigans. Enough is enough of the mulish characters’ disturbing lawlessness and acrimonious activities at motor parks and other places where they operate.
To do that effectively, the state actors who embolden them and unwittingly acquiesce to their fiendish activities through patronage must stop doing so. The time has come when politicians and the others who engage them must allow patriotic fervour to override their narrow interests.
The transport union leaders who engage the ‘agberos’ should review their operations and stop or at least reduce their obnoxious activities. They should embrace the fineness that aligns with modern times. They should, therefore, legitimize their dues and engage tech-savvy tax firms to collect them on their behalf.
The law enforcement agents should be allowed to do their job. They should clamp down on the transport unions and their agents any time they cross the red line. Let sanity return to the motor parts, major bus stops and the highways.