NAN-H-84
Tricycles
By Martha Agas
Jos, Feb. 28, 2018 (NAN) Residents of Jos have appealed to the state government to lift the ban on commercial tricycles to save them from exploitation by taxi drivers cashing in on the situation to increase transport fares.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Plateau government banned commercial tricycle operators from Jos and Bukuru roads on Monday.
The ban followed a violent protest by the riders over alleged extortion by government officials and personnel of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC).
The tricycle operators had claimed that they were particularly bitter over the rise in license fees and the cost of a two-day training they were to undertake before being issued the new license.
Mrs. Linda Gabs, a trader in Hwolshe, said that she was forced to pay almost double the usual fare for a short journey to building materials market.
“I buy goods at the market everyday and have always paid N300 as transport back home, but today, all the taxis I got insisted on N500.
“What this means is that if I do not increase prices on my goods, I would not get my profit,’’ she said.
She pleaded with the government to temper justice with mercy “in view of the harsh effect of the ban on the residents”.
Also speaking, Miss Suzie Ishaku, a civil servant, said she trekked more than three kilometres to get to the junction where she could board a vehicle to her office because only the tricycles usually enter the interior parts of the city.
“Today, I got a motorcycle when I was even close to the junction who charged me N50 for a short distance instead of the N30 I pay the tricycles,” she said.
“There should be a compromise. Both parties should try to agree somewhere for the benefit of the larger community,” she said.
Mr Abdullahi Isa, a trader, however, blamed the tricycle operators for not comporting themselves in the right manner during the protest.
“Their violence forced government to ban them because it sent the wrong signals,” he said.
A source, however, told NAN that the Amalgamated Commercial Tricycle Owners, Repairs and Riders Association of Nigeria (ACOMORAN), Plateau Chapter, had begun negotiations with government toward lifting the ban.
Mr Abdullahi Sarki, the association’s Chairman, who confirmed this, said that forms had been given to the union to coordinate the various operators in units.
“We are expected to register all members across the metropolis as a precondition to negotiating the N5,800 license fees,” he told NAN. (NAN)
MAA/FF/ETS
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Edited by Fela Fashoro and Ephraims Sheyin