Some passengers have called on the Rivers State Government to as a matter of urgency check a trend whereby the popular Rumuola Bus-Stop, also called Amaechi bus stop is now home to hordes of liquor sellers who daily display their wares without giving a hoot despite subsisting law against public sale of alcohol.
Those who spoke against the development noted with pity that passengers no longer have a place to wait for commercial vehicles before boarding. The concerned passengers and passers-by were unanimous in their condemnation of the development, saying that it was purely against the reason the bus- stop was conceived.
According to a regular passenger in the area, Mr. Frank Fubara, the state of the bus terminus is despicable. “It is simply unimaginable that each time I come around in the morning to enter a bus to my office, I mean as early as 7 am in the morning, sometimes earlier than that, I see a sorry sight of able bodied men and women drinking dry gin and at the same time smoking all sorts”. He concluded by stating that he became more embarrassed to think that such activities take place right beside a major road.
Another passenger, Choke Willams , noted that the incident lingered because no arrest had been made by security agencies. She opined that those who engage in illegal activities received a boost from vendors of alcohol in the area. She alleged that the police particularly had compromised their job if such a spectacle had remained unchecked.
Emmanuella Okon, a student and regular passenger at the but- stop condemned the sorry sight of the bus-stop. In her view, ”the gathering of alcohol vendors at a bus-stop like Rumuola is an eye sore and a bad image for the garden city. I find it difficult to stay close to the main bus stop as you can see because I cannot stand the sight of what is going on there.”
But a resident of the area and passers-by, Dede Samuel, who also condemned the incident, threw an insight into the emergence of liquor sellers at the bus terminus. “It was a woman who started the sale of the alcohol before others joined as they found space.” He recounted how she was criticized by commuters and men of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW without any success.
When contacted to speak on the development and the danger of the activities around the bus terminus, an official of the NURTW, who pleaded anonymity, said efforts had been made to relocate the alcohol vendors to no avail. According to him, only the police can successfully drive them away because some drivers patronized them early in the morning before plying the roads.
On the danger of their activities, the official said that, ”we are aware of the campaign by men of the Road Safety against drinking and driving on the road. This is one of the reasons drivers misbehave on the road causing accidents and sometimes loss of lives.” He also appealed to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA to conduct a raid of the place. He said:” Bust-stops are meant to provide a temporary shelter to the passengers before boarding vehicles. It is meant to grant them relief from the rain and abnormal change in weather conditions. But it is now a home to mad men and women who even got mad based on excessive intake of harmful substance. But, this is not the only bus-stop like this in Port Harcourt, it is happening in some other places. Let the government do something about it.
Meanwhile, efforts to contact those who sell liquor for their comments were turned down as they resisted moves to make findings into their activities.
