By Lagos commuters woke up to a big nightmare as they set to work this morning when they could not find any of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) which operates on the Ikorodu-TBS axis of the State. A situation that soon had a peaceful protest been staged by the drivers who had dumbed their jobs over irregularities in salary payment.
Recall that BlackBox Nigeria reported earlier that the drivers had staged a protest to press home their salary demand from the Primero Transport Services, a company that oversees the operation of the buses. Well, new reports just confirmed that, the reason given earlier was not the real cause of the ugly situation.
The Managing Director of Primero, Fola Tinubu while speaking with TVC news said the real cause of the protest was the salary arrangements which the management adopted.
He said when he took over the office in February, he noticed some loopholes in the operation of the buses and he carried out investigations. He said while some Busmen (what he called the drivers) were dedicated to their duty, others were not committed. He disclosed that this made the management change the structure of their salary.
He said prior to the change, the basic salary was N60,000 plus bonus of N20,000 (to get this bonus, they are set targets given to all Busmen). He said the management decided to slash the basic salary to N40,000 plus bonus of N40,000 (with this, the sum total remains N80,000). He said this resolution did not go down well with some members, which he soon tagged as the United-serious ones.
He further said the services of the buses were fully in the interest of the commuters and they had to take the hard decision so no one would be lagging while others were on duty.
Mr Tinubu said this was the main reason of the protest as they want the old regime of salary structure which do not make them work as they’re expected.
He also revealed that the company was not owing any month salary, as July salary had been paid and he had even confirmed that before he came on air.
