By Saheed Ibrahim

Ondo state government may put in place stricter measures to ensure compliance with the interstate movement in and out of the state.

Investigation conducted revealed that despite the ban on inter-state movement nationwide and the order of Ondo state government that all inter-state motor parks should be under lock and key commercial drivers still convey  travellers in and out of the state.

The state government, through the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transport, Tobi Ogunleye, had stated that no interstate motor park should be operational in the state.

In a meeting held at the Ministry of Transport to implement the directives  to keep the state safe of illegal immigrants, Ogunleye made it known that the leaders of NURTW and RTEAN in the state had been informed of the order of the state government.

However, some audacious commercial drivers have been discovered flouting the directive. The Hope investigation revealed that the drivers, in connivance with desperate travellers disguise as if they want to convey food items into the state and when faced with opposition from the security men, they tried to bribe their way through the borders.

According to a traveller, who spoke in anonymity, “Instead of the usual normal N2,050, we pay N7,000.

Such recalcitrant drivers also made it mandatory that we have food items like “garri” as parts of our loads. They (drivers) lied to every security operative they met on the way that they want to buy food items for sale in Lagos. They  also tipped the security operatives for smooth passage.

Another traveller, Johnson Chukwuka said that he had to pay N2,000 to a motorcyclist just to cross from Lagos to Ibadan before he navigated his way down to his primary destination.

Additionally, some of the commercial drivers have resolved to travelling at night and very early in the morning due to many security apparatus that are operational during the day.

It was also gathered that transport fee has  increased by about 300% (depending on the destination and the number of police checkpoints on the way) as desperate travellers and audacious drivers continue to travel inter-state in defiance to government’s directive.