There seem to be more woes lurking around for commuters in Lagos as the state government is reportedly making moves to wield its regulatory power on the activities of cab-hailing platforms like Uber, Bolt and others.

Report by The Guardian claimed the government has started the enforcement of some new rules that could make the present transportation woes in the state go worse.

Recall that residents have been groaning since the proscription on the operations of Okada and Keke, including ride-hailing services like Gokada, Oride, Max, became effective on Saturday 1st February 2020.

Despite outcry from residents and other stakeholders calling for the reversal of the ban, the government has said there is no going back.

In a new development, The Guardian is reporting that an official of the Lagos State Vehicle Investigation Service on Thursday said the state has started enforcing necessary laws on the drivers on ride-hailing platforms such as Uber.

Some drivers on the platform who spoke with the newspaper explained how their cars have been impounded by state officials and how they were slammed N60,000 fine before their cars were released.

A Uber driver Moses Ndubuisi said:

“My car was impounded last week and I was asked to pay N60,000 into the government’s account before it could be released to me.”

The newspaper claimed there are many other drivers like Ndubuisi whose car was also impounded.

An official of the Lagos Vehicle Inspection Services told The Guardian that commercial vehicle drivers and those on Uber and other ride-hailing platforms must be certified by the Lagos Drivers’ Institute before they can operate in the state.

Moreover, drivers on ride-hailing platforms must have hackney permits. This means they have to change their vehicle registration to commercial.

Another official of the VIS said Uber has also not paid an operator license fee to the state government.

“You need to have what we call operator license, which Uber was supposed to pay to the government,” the official said in a telephone conversation with an Uber driver. “Uber has no operator license.”

The official of the VIS insisted that Uber was aware of all the requirements needed by the drivers, including the hackney permit.

The Hackney permit is a license that is required by commercial operators of vehicles, including other non-commercial vehicles that are into haulage of people or goods like buses, taxis.

Some of the drivers, whose cars were impounded, have already paid the fine and have received their vehicles while some are looking to Uber to help solve the problem. But that has not happened.

“Uber sent us a message last Friday that they were closing the office. Since then, the office has not been opened,” Ndubuisi said.

“That is not fair. You can not call them except if you go to the office or contact them through the app.”

The message sent to the drivers said the Lagos Greenlight Hub would be closed on January 31. The message said support for drivers would be rendered via t.uber.com/westafricachat or the app.

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But Uber’s head of communications in West Africa Efosa Aiyevbomwan said in an emailed statement that the Nigerian office was reopened on Tuesday contrary to what Ndubuisi said.

Aiyevbomwan said:

“Uber continues to work closely with all relevant stakeholders in Lagos to ensure that our operations align with best practices locally and internationally, whilst also ensuring that drivers continue to earn a living and riders are able to move from point A to B, comfortably and conveniently, at the touch of a button.”