Touts are free-lance workers at motor-parks; they undertake the self-imposed responsibility of recruiting passengers who wish to travel by road. For their efforts they hope to receive a fee, or more appropriately, a 'commission', that is generally paid by the drivers of the vehicles just before their departure. Most of the bus owners are private entrepreneurs, who both compete and collaborate with one another to provide road transport for the public. But the reality is that without the 'touts', their smooth operation will be impossible.
Most often than not, members of the public describe those engaged in passenger recruitment as 'touts'; however, those who belong to the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers (N.U.R.T.W.) do not see themselves as such; they call themselves 'road transport officers' or 'NURTW rate officers'. They operate in designated and NURTW/RTEAN approved motorparks, and they criminalised those described as 'touts' who frequently procure passengers at unauthorised locations, such as along major routes and in side-streets. To further underscore that supremacy, the Patrol Vans of various unions do attack and arrest those involved in such activities. Any conductor found guilty of any misconduct and suspended also may become touts and any driver if dispossessed of their vehicle for any reason e.g. if surrendered on demand to the bonafide owners, or if wrecked as a result of a serious road accident.
Local chapters of the N.U.R.T.W. are affiliates of the national body, and all members are supposed to adhere to a code of conduct designed to ensure orderliness in their daily operations. For example, drivers are required to load only at approved points, usually motor-parks, where other union members help to fill their vehicles in the order of arrival. Any property lost or abandoned by forgetful passengers at the end of their journey must be surrendered to union officials for safe-keeping, and failure to do this is usually punished by suspension of membership or expulsion. The union office maintains a 'lost and found' register, as well as a box for storing all recovered items pending identification and collection by their owners.
The N.U.R.T.W. makes a significant contribution towards safety on the roads by forbidding its members to smoke while driving, and anyone suspected of having driven under the influence of alcohol faces the prospect of a very stiff penalty. The non-unionised drivers and passenger procurers operate outside designated motor-parks, which are the exclusive reserve of the 'road transport workers'. As a result, they tend to fill their vehicles by picking up passengers along major urban routes, thereby avoiding the payment of motor-park fees.
It is important to note that sometimes the drivers of the 'tout supplied' vehicles make more money a day than others, not only by virtue of being able to achieve full passenger loads, but also because they can make and remake more journeys every day without being hampered by queue at the motorpark.
There seems little doubt that unregistered passenger organisers and drivers are less likely to manifest moral responsibility as regards returning lost and found articles. In view, therefore, of being what might be described as a 'public nuisance', it is only to be expected that the non-unionised touts are
subjected to frequent police raids and harassment mostly engineered by the organised union members/officers.
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