Residents of Mararaba, Karu LGA of Nasarawa State, have lamented the transportation situation they are facing following a ban on unregistered Okada and tricycle riders.
The ban, which came into effect last Monday, is linked to the terror attack alert on the FCT issued two weeks ago by the United States (US) embassy in Abuja.
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A resident, Mustafa Ahmad, said workers and pupils who usually left home early in the morning were the worst affected by the ban.
Another resident, Joy Bitrus, said pupils now trekked long distances and that most traders could not convey their goods.
Speaking to City & Crime, the state’s Chairman of Keke NAPEP operators, Salisu Muktar Uke, said his members were being forced to register their tricycles every year for N5,000 per person.
He explained that, “So our members are exhausted with this policy of recycling order. Let the authorities present a bank account number where the payment should be made into in order to avoid short-changing both the government and the operators.’’
Some of the riders alleged that they were paying higher amounts of up to N20,000 and that the policy didn’t recognise some of them with other states’ number plates.
Reacting, the state’s Chairman of the Board of Internal Revenue Service, Ahmad Yakubu Muhammad, said the recent renewal was mainly due to the security alert by the US embassy, as well as the proximity of Karu LGA to the FCT.
He said, “There was also exodus of the operators into the area from other states where their operations were banned.’’
He explained that the official registration was about N11,000, with an annual renewal of N3,000.
