By FLORENCE ONUEGBU

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Lagos State Council, has criticised the 25 per cent commission app-based transporters give to app-based service providers.

The Chairperson, NLC Lagos, Funmi Sessi, said this at a news conference organised by the Amalgamated Union of App-Based Transporters of Nigeria (AUATON), Lagos State Council on Thursday.

Sessi said the commission was exploitative, as the app-based transport providers such as Uber, Bolt, Indrive, LagRide among others, do not attend to the welfare of the transporters.

She said app companies continue to impose arbitrary pricing mechanisms, with commissions as high as 25 to 35 per cent, leaving drivers impoverished, in spite of the long working hours and rising operational costs.

The chairperson called for justice, and stated that app-based companies should provide proper safety measures and compensation for drivers.

“One of the contentions is the issue of exploitative commission. The structure of the commission from all this app based company is killing the drivers. These app-based companies are not the ones that facilitated the vehicles that they are using.

“You (driver) will bring everything yourself. You are the owner of your vehicles. You will fuel your vehicles. You will repair your vehicles.

“When police catch you, you are the one that will face the police, when LASMA or FRSC catch you, you are the one that will do all the documentation on your vehicle, you will fuel your vehicle.

“The only thing that you (app provider) do for them is only to give them rider’s reference, to refer riders, and then you are now exploiting them by getting 25 to 30 per cent. It is an exploitative commission we are taking about, it is too much,” she said.

Sessi said app companies were making billions of naira from Nigerian drivers, while denying them dignity, rights, or protection.

She called on the Lagos State House of Assembly to enact comprehensive legislation regulating e-hailing services, ensuring fair labour standards, data accountability, and protection for all stakeholders in the sector.

The NLC chairperson emphasized the need for a national policy to streamline the activities of app-based companies and protect the welfare of workers.

The Chairman of the Lagos State AUATON branch, Mr. Azeez Jaiyesimi, said it was clear that app companies did not provide jobs for them, rather the transporters provided jobs for them.

“We were initially the conventional taxi driver before app companies approach us and introduced their software to us, and because we are people who embrace innovation, we welcomed it with our whole heart.

“So, please let it be clear we had jobs before app companies came into Nigeria, they only created a niche for themselves from our business, they are nothing but middlemen in transportation business,” Jaiyesimi said.

He said that because this app companies do not own the cars used for the transportation, they fix ridiculous fare for the drivers, not minding the cost of operations, thereby, short-changing the e-hailing drivers.

According to him, the ill practice of app companies has resulted to poor service on all the platforms.

“We recommend that there should be a joint fare review of fare with drivers and app companies, where fare will be fixed in consideration of both the drivers and the riders.

“We understand things are equally not easy for our passengers (riders), as the economy is not smiling so the fare should be commensurate and pocket friendly and also not eating into our cost of service,” he said. (NAN)