Hunger protest: Passengers need our services – LBSL, LAGFERRY, NRC

The Lagos Bus Services Ltd. (LBSL), the Lagos Ferry Services (LAGFERRY), and the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) have said that the planned nationwide protest will not disrupt their services.

By Chiazo Ogbolu

The Lagos Bus Services Ltd. (LBSL), the Lagos Ferry Services (LAGFERRY), and the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) have said that the planned nationwide protest will not disrupt their services.

The organisations confirmed this in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.

They spoke against the backdrop of the planned nationwide protest slated for August 1 to 10  to protest against hardship and rising cost of living.

They told NAN that the planned protest would not affect them because commuters need their services.

Mr Idowu Oguntona, the LBSL Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, said that as far as their passengers require their services, they were duty bound to work.

“I believe that our commuters will be on the road requiring our service, and as long as there are people going from one place to the other, we should be on the road.

“I’m not sure the protest is meant to disrupt the normal flow of day-to-day activities. Our duty is to provide transportation,” he said.

On security, Oguntona said that it was the responsibility of the security agencies and the government to ensure law and order.

He said that the security agencies would ensure that there was no breakdown of law and order.

“As a responsible organisation, we will put the necessary precautions in place to ensure safety but ultimately, the responsibility of ensuring protection of lives and properties lies with the architecture of government.

“We will rely heavily on them to do the needful,” he said.

Also, Mr Akeem Odusina, the Deputy Director, Public Affairs, LAGFERRY, said that the boats would be out to pick passengers.

“We are not on holiday, we will surely be out to work tomorrow,” he said.

Mr Augustine Arisa, the NRC District Manager, told NAN that the corporation would run its normal daily schedule.

“This is not a strike but a protest,  so we are not stopping our work, we are at work.

“Except where otherwise they tend to disturb us,  but we are at work. We are running our normal schedule,” Arisa said.

In a related development, Mr Jude Nneji, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, ABC Transport Plc, told NAN that the transport company would not be operating on Thursday.

Nneji told NAN that the company would be monitoring the situation and would not want to endanger the lives of travellers and its properties.

A NAN correspondent who visited the God is Good Motors and Libra Transport Company located at Okota Road, observed that tickets were not being sold to passengers.(NAN)