The Osun State Council of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, has appealed to Governor Ademola Adeleke to lift the ban placed on its activities.
The transport union, led by Acting Chairman Alhaji Kazeem Oyewale, revealed that the ban which has been in force since 2022 had blocked the means of likelihood of many of the members.
DAILY POST recalled that on assumption of office, Governor Ademola Adeleke placed a ban on the activities of the union throughout the state and set up the Osun State Transport Management System in their place.
Oyewale appealed to the governor to lift the ban while addressing journalists in Osogbo on Thursday.
He said the union was proscribed in late November 2022 by the state government despite being one of the major employers of labour and contributors to the country’s economy.
“The members of the Osun State Transport Management System (OSTMS) and NURTW in the state are brothers of different age groups, religious backgrounds, and political affiliations, which is typical of a democratic system.
“The diversity between the two transport unions should be a source of pride and strength for the state and the nation at large, rather than causing hatred and conflict among brothers.
“Union members have been suffering for the past two years, with their children out of school due to the ban on union activities and their inability to provide for their families.”
The chairman while expressing sadness over the development disclosed that there has been attacks, harassment, intimidation, and threats to the lives of some of its members by other unions in various motor parks in the state.
He added that NURTW members were being ejected from parks where they once made their daily living.
Oyewale called on the people of Osun State, as well as traditional rulers particularly the Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, to intervene and appeal to Governor Adeleke to lift the ban on the union’s activities.
Lift ban on NURTW activities in Osun State — Members beg Gov Adeleke