Uber and Bolt drivers under the Nigeria Union of Professional App-based Transport Workers (NUPABTW) has condemned the multiple payments for road worthiness certificates by ride hailing companies.

Ibrahim Ayoade, the President NUPABTW, decried the additional charges during routine vehicle inspection on Thursday in Lagos.

He said that drivers on ride hailing platforms were not against inspection of their vehicles for road worthiness, but the separate charges levied against them after payments made during vehicle registration.

Mr Ayoade appealed to the Lagos state government to compel the ride hailing companies operating in the state to respect road worthiness certificates issued by the state government.

“We go for routine vehicle inspection separately for Uber and Bolt every six months, each inspection costs N4,000 which shows that we are paying N8,000 each on Uber and Bolt inspection every year.

“This shows that ride hailing companies underrate road worthiness inspection certificates from the state government.

“We see another payment for road worthiness certificates to ride hailing companies as double payment and cheating,” he said.

The Lagos government has newly introduced a ‘no-vehicle inspection, no road-worthiness’ policy, and appealed to car owners in the state to present their vehicles for roadworthiness inspection at no cost.

The government in a clarification it made had said that the cost of vehicle inspection for the road worthiness certificate was already inclusive in the amount paid for the renewal of vehicle particulars.

(NAN)