Motorcycle ban: Lagos govt must create source of livelihood for affected people — News Digest Publisher

Gidado Shuaib, Publisher of Nigeria’s online newspaper, @NewsDigestNG, has advised the Lagos State government to create an alternative means of livelihood for people affected by the ban on motorcycles in some parts of the state.

Shuaib who stated this during an interview on Thursday said the government must create job opportunities in the state, or the people will be left with no choice but go back into the streets to continue business.

He also stated that for the ban to be sustainable, the government must also take care of other aspects which will be seriously affected by the ban.

He said: “We can’t just make laws and say we are making bans. We also need to look at other aspects of the bans as well.

“All stakeholders needs to be involved. For instance, an influx of three million people who trooped into Lagos are people who engage in commercial motorcycle activities. What will happen to these kind of people who leave the market? So I think automatically, the government needs to think about creating job opportunities, they need to make sure that means of livelihood are being improved for people.

“The people who have been banned from this will definitely go back into the streets in a situation where there is no job.”

Shuaib who decried the deplorable condition of some street roads in the state, said commuters will face difficulty if motorcycles which is the only means of plying such roads are banned, adding that the local governments must be effective in fixing street roads.

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“Another thing we need to look into closely about the ban is that a lot of the roads on the streets of Lagos are not good, and it’s only motorcycles that could ply these roads.

“For instance, we are talking about local government empowerment. You don’t expect the Federal Government to go and start fixing street roads. So these are the roads that local government need to do. So, it’s necessary for us to empower our local government,” Shuaib said.

Shuaib, while pointing out some issues are caused as a result of the use of motorcycles, such as accidents, however, said that motorcycles have also been an alternative means of transportation in situations where people are stuck in traffic due to the large population in the state.