Tricycle operators protest over FCTA restriction order

Tricycles operators (popularly known as keke) on Sunday in Abuja protested  the proposed restriction and ban on the business by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), saying the action will affect the lives of over 40, 000 people negatively in Abuja. The National President, Tricycle Owners Association, Comrade Augustine Apeh, told newsmen during the protest […]

Tricycles operators (popularly known as keke) on Sunday in Abuja protested  the proposed restriction and ban on the business by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), saying the action will affect the lives of over 40, 000 people negatively in Abuja.

The National President, Tricycle Owners Association, Comrade Augustine Apeh, told newsmen during the protest that the proposed ban and restriction of tricycles in Abuja was not in the best interest of the citizens.

According to him, the job of many Nigerians are on the line, especially those who ran away from war torn areas of Borno, Zamfara, Nasarawa, Benue and other states to start the tricycle business in Abuja, to support their families.

Apeh said the government should ensure that traffic laws were obeyed with violators punished, instead of banning “a legitimate businesses without legislation.”

“We want the task force dismantled because anytime they arrest a tricycle driver, they collect not less than N30,000 without the money going into the government coffers. Nigerians should rise against the planned ban. Restricting or banning people’s businesses without legislation is not good. What the FCT administration is planning to do is wrong.

“The tricycle business feeds over 40,000 people in Abuja alone apart from the dealers and mechanics. The proposed ban will render such people jobless. Many came to Abuja from far places where the Boko Haram, herdsmen crises persist. Some lost everything before coming here. Now that they have found their way into the sector and are feeding their families, the government wants to ban them.

“Where does the government want us to go? What do they want us to do? Government should not damage what we have suffered to build for many years. The task force setup by the FCTA should be banned for extorting money from the tricycle ridders,” Apeh said.

He added, “The VIO is just extorting money from us and terrorizing us. We want to tell the world that what we have been suffering from the past 17 years. Politically, we are not happy because in less than a year, we supported this government. We bought cars for the president’s campaign and branded them but some people are now planning to turn against us. The job that is hard to create, some people want to destroy the existing ones.”