Between insecurity and motorcycle ban

Recently, Minna residents woke up to another rumour on the proposed ban of carrying passenger(s) on motorcycles.  The Chief Servant of Niger state, Dr Babangida Aliyu Muazu made true the dreadful rumour when on the 26th of February 2013; he announced the ban on commercial motorcycle and gave three weeks ultimatum for its enforcement in […]

Recently, Minna residents woke up to another rumour on the proposed ban of carrying passenger(s) on motorcycles.  The Chief Servant of Niger state, Dr Babangida Aliyu Muazu made true the dreadful rumour when on the 26th of February 2013; he announced the ban on commercial motorcycle and gave three weeks ultimatum for its enforcement in Minna metropolis and its environs.  Consequently, residents of Minna were thrown into confusion.
Indeed, tricycles were introduced as replacements for commercial motorcycles, but at what cost?  How many a commercial motorcycle operators can afford N400, 000 for a tricycle to pay in installment for 18 months? This amounts to remitting almost N20, 000, which is a lot of money for an average Nigerian.
By design, the tricycle requires smooth terrain to operate efficiently.  However, most areas in the Minna metropolis lack adequate road network.  Except for the streets off the major ‘Chanchaga-Maikunkele’ expressway (that passes through the heart of Minna town), which had their roads constructed, most adjoining areas and new settlements along both western bypass and eastern bypass have no good access road, and the terrain is too rough for tricycle to have a smooth ride.  Ironically, these areas are inhabited by many residents who have no cars of their own to serve their transportation need.
Unlike in the city centre, most areas in these settlements have no proper street layout and lanes.  The access routes are mostly footpaths, and alleys which would make it difficult for tricycle to ply.  Besides, some areas extend inward more than one kilometer from the main road.  It would be an utter brute and sheer inconsideration to have people work these distances (of bumpy routes) on a daily basis, to survive.
Adverse effects of this precarious decision could snowball into more devastating consequences if you ask me.  While non-indigene commercial motorcycle operators would relocate to other places, what becomes of their indigenous counterparts?  It is a known fact that majority of the unemployed youth in Niger state take to motorcycle business to earn a leaving and cater for their families.  With nothing to fall back on, there is every possibility of taking solace in heinous acts to put body and soul together, as “The ideal mind is the devil’s workshop.”  Personally, I don’t see how snatching bread from a hungry man could solve any problems in the society.
Of course such ban was enforced in a few conflict-torn states in north-west and north-east Nigeria as a measure to curtail insecurity and brutal murder of innocent lives, many of which were perpetrated using motorcycles.  Chief servant argued his reason for the ban on motorcycle in Minna metropolis was in view of the prevailing security situation in the north.  For crying out loud, Minna town is relatively peaceful.  If commercial motorcycles still operate in states facing more serious security challenges, the ban in Niger state is simply uncalled for.  Many would agree with me that the ban in some northern states has not in any way reduced insecurity.  Rather, it gave rise to new strategies of perpetrating evil.
It is public knowledge that aftermath of the ban on motorcycle in Kano city saw to the use of tricycle in the killing of nine social health workers earlier this year.  Most recently, a motor car and a luxurious bus led to the devastating explosion in a motor park also in Kano, killing dozens of innocent people.  Does this mean that every vehicular movement and all means of transportation by road should be banned?
Frankly speaking, we cannot solve a problem by running away from it.  The more drastic and desperate measures are taken to forestall or combat a persistent social disorder, the more mistakes are made, and the more it escalates, spreading its tentacles to other aspects of life, as witnessed in Nigeria in recent years.  Until government (at all levels) does the ‘right thing,’ we cannot nip the devastating issue of insecurity in the bud.
Transportation is no doubt a great necessity in every modern society.  It is a driving force as well as a linking machinery that propels a nation’s economy forward.  Just a few hours of the expiration of the three weeks ultimatum, business activities and movements were nearly disrupted in the state capital.
Although commercial motorcycles still operate in Minna metropolis for the time being, this does not allay the fears of Nigerlites for an absolute enforcement.  Experience of Minna central market demolition has thought them a lesson.
Gana wrote in from Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University (IBBU), Lapai, Niger state.