Insecurity: Security agencies to profile taxi drivers in FCT

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In order to curb cases of kidnapping and ‘one-chance’ robbery, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Barrister Nyesom Wike, has said all commercial buses in the nation’s capital would be profiled by the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services (DSS).

The minister disclosed that the FCT Administration would not condone unprofiled vehicles in the nation’s capital beginning in January 2025.

Wike made this statement at the FCT Renewed Hope Youth Empowerment Programme in Abuja on Thursday, where he handed over eighty new cars to beneficiaries to use as taxis.

He said, “Most of the Keke Napep and most of the motorcycles are informants. Everybody here who is a beneficiary is being profiled by security.

“Most of the Keke Napep and most of the motorcycles are informants. Everybody here that is a beneficiary is being profiled by the security.

“And so what we are coming up with is that from January next year, there will be nobody that will operate as a taxi driver or a bus driver without having approval from security, with security profiling you and without going about with the Abuja colour.

“Nothing like using any vehicle on the road. No, we won’t allow that. From January, we won’t allow that.”

The minister stated that many Nigerians who reject taxi driving jobs at home gladly embrace such when they travel abroad.

“They are not paying a dime. No, the government is saying this is our support to feed your family and reduce the cost of transportation in the city. Abuja should compete with other cities in the world.

“What you will see in the social media is that he wants them to be taxi drivers. We travel and see Nigerians who stay abroad and work as taxi drivers.

“Nigerians at home will say our uncle is in London, my uncle is in Houston, my uncle is in Paris. My uncle has sent us $200, but he (the uncle abroad) makes his money as a taxi driver, feeds his family, and pays his taxes.

“Instead of encouraging how to feed our families, the next thing we will see in social media is that they are giving them jobs as taxi drivers.

“We can’t be taxi drivers here, but we prefer taxi driving in London. That is the country you are in.”

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