NYCN gives truck drivers 24 hours to vacate blocked roads in Niger

The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) in Niger has issued a 24-hour ultimatum to truck drivers to vacate the Suleja-Lambata-Bida road they blocked in the state.

On Friday, the drivers blocked roads in and out of Bida town in protest over the “slow work” on the Bida-Lambata road.

The drivers asked the government to immediately reopen the road, which they said serves as an alternative route. The federal government has since appealed to drivers.

In a statement on Sunday, the council said the blocking of the road has led to “untold hardship” for the people in Bida and its environs.

“The implications of this heinous act by these drivers who have constituted themselves not only as nuisance, but as a government within government, blocking and stampeding major highways at the slightest provocation, thereby causing untold hardship and holding travelers to ransom, hence crippling and halting the day to day activities of other road users,” it said.

“This need to be checked by authorities concerned or we would be forced to take laws into our own hands.

“That, we issued a 24 hours ultimatum to Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners and Associations of Tanker Drivers to direct all the heavy-duty vehicles drivers to vacate the roads for free movement of other road users.”

The council said the truck drivers should issue an apology to the residents of Niger over their action.