Tipper drivers in Onitsha, the commercial centre of Anambra, on Tuesday, protested and blocked the expressway leading to and from Niger Bridge over alleged extortion by agents of the state government.

All efforts made by the military personnel stationed at the scene of the incident to dismantle the roadblock proved abortive, as their pleas were disregarded.

Speaking to journalists, a top official of the Tipper Drivers Association, Onodugo Onochie, lamented that they were being extorted in Anambra when the roads from where they load the sand were dilapidated. 

He said, “So this morning, some of us who loaded at Asaba paid N2,700 they demanded from each tipper in a day, and on getting to Onitsha end of the Niger bridge, precisely at Uga junction, adjacent to a military checkpoint, they also demanded that we pay again. 

“Some boys stopped us and demanded that we pay before leaving. They said they distributed the documented information last year in December and January, and I told them we were unaware of that.

“They then said we should pay N3,000, but when we offered N1,000, they said no, and we had no other option than to block the road to end the saga once and for all.

“It is not that we don’t want to pay, but we want to know how much to pay daily or weekly as the case may be, and not each time a tipper passes they collect N3,000 from the driver.”

(NAN)