Due to the unique position that this group occupies in the FCT, there have been a lot of communication and relations between the riders association and the relevant secretariats of the FCT Administration. There have also been various agreements and communiqué to ensure that the operations of commercial tricycles and motorcycles are restricted to designated areas, most notably the estates and suburbs. But as it is well known, Abuja is a magnet and everybody is just coming in. Sometimes, people come in and they don’t appreciate the agreements already entered between the associations and the FCT Authority.
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Ordinarily, the Abuja master plan did not make provisions for Okada and Keke to operate in the capital city. Section 42(1) of the road traffic Act of the FCT is very clear about the operation of Keke Napep. It says permit should not be granted for them to operate. However because of the magnanimity of government, it gave waivers for the group to operate in the estates and suburbs. This is because government does not want to prevent anybody from doing his work or looking for food in the FCT. Government understands that all of us in Abuja, including the FCT Minister, are in the capital city to look for food.
Today, if there is no food in Abuja, all of us will go back to our villages. But this should be not be used as an excuse to do things in a manner that is capable of distorting peace and order in the FCT. A situation where all manner of persons drive Okada and Keke on the highway, endangering other road users is highly condemnable.
From the records, the FCT Administration has introduced deliberate policies to cushion the hardships being faced by Okada and Keke riders and other groups in the FCT so that they don’t exceed their boundaries. This why it is disheartening to now see this group now turn around and do things that are capable of destroying this security and comfort that attracted them to Abuja in the first place? No explanation is good enough for why Okada and keke operators should take advantage of government’s magnanimity to drive against traffic, ride on highways, and endanger the lives of other road users which is nowhere near where they interest to limit their activities
Although the FCT Administration has shown over the years that it has zero tolerance for the fragrant abuse of law and order by this group with the clampdown and seizure of their vehicles by various task forces in the past. There is however need to find other ways of sanitizing the activities of this group as is the case in other parts of the country.
Danladi Akilu,
Abuja.
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