Tricycle riders who have been on strike in Kano have called off their industrial action and are to resume work immediately.
The leadership of Amalgamated Commercial Tricycle Riders of Nigeria in the state ordered its member to resume operation with immediate effect.
The chairman of the association, Mansur Tanimu confirmed this on Tuesday in a telephone conversation with Daily Trust.
He said the decision is an outcome of a meeting held Tuesday evening between Kano State Roads and Traffic Agency (KAROTA) on one hand, Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and their union on the other.
“After the tripartite meeting we had with KAROTA and NLC, we have directed our leaders at Local Government level to discuss with their excos and suspend the strike with immediate effect, we have made our demands and some of them have been met, we can’t have all of them, but we have achieved so much,” Tanimu said.
N100 daily tax
The strike was called to protest a N100 daily tax enforced by the state government through the Kano State Roads and Traffic Agency (KAROTA) among other issues.
Briefing journalists at a joint press conference earlier at KAROTA hedaquarters, the state NLC chapter chairman in Kano state, Kabiru Ado Minjibir, said the warring parties have agreed the sheathe their swords.
According to him, “Arising from the impasse between the KAROTA and the leadership of Tricycle Riders/Owners Association, the leadership of NLC, TUC, JNC and KCSF summoned a joint meeting chaired by Comrade Kabiru Ado Minjibir (chairman NLC Kano state) with the MD of KAROTA with the aim of intervening to have amicable resolution on the matter of striking Tricycle Riders in the state.”
Minjibir further stated that after extensive and fruitful deliberations, both parties agreed to toe the path of peace, as tricycle riders decided to call off the strike.
He, however, listed resolutions reached at the peace parley to include, “That all tricycle riders in the state are to pay a token tax of N100 daily as provided by the Kano state Revenue administration law, schedule 2 item 9 congestion charges amendment law 2017.
“That the first payment of N100 should be made through Remita to enable data capture in Kano State Board of Internal Revenue/KAROTA Cyber which shall be done within two weeks time effective from today, 23 February, 2021 after which KAROTA will commence enforcement and the Cyber shutdown, so that nobody will access it to enable control.
“That the subsequent payment of N100 daily tax should follow by the tricycle operators which can be done through their android phone or Post (Point Of Sale) machine with an option of daily, monthly, quarterly, or yearly payment at the Cafe (which is not compulsory).
“That all tricycle riders in the state should write their number boldly at the back of each tricycle for easy identification and security purposes,” Minjibir added.
In their separate remarks, the KAROTA MD, Baffa Babba Dan-Agundi and the chairman of Tricycle Owners/Riders Association, Malam Mansur Tanimu, all agreed to the truce and commended the Organized Labour and Civil Society Organizations for their timely intervention.
Meanwhile, the Kano State Police Command said it has so far arrested 77 people including 13 students between Monday and Tuesday for attacking motorists and passersby in the guise of tricycle operators’ protest.
The spokesman command, DSP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa confirmed this to Daily Trust on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Kano State Government has said that it will introduce new modalities on the operations of tricycle riders in the state, in response to the strike.
This was announced by the Special Adviser to Kano State Governor on Media, Malam Salihu Tanko Yakasai on Tuesday on his verified Twitter handle.
Similarly, the state government through Kano State Commissioner for Housing and Transport, Mahmoud Mohammed Sanusi, has directed the immediate operation of Kano BMT (Buses Mass Transit) in the state in line with the response and efforts of the state government to redesign and restructure the transport system.
A statement by his personal assistant Sagir Yakubu said the commissioner also directed the state owned transport authority (Kano State Transport Authority) KASTA, popularly known as Kano Line to operate in the metropolitan city within this period.
In a related development, Kano State House of Assembly has called on the state government to order the Kano-Road Traffic Agency (KAROTA) to stop further registration of tricycle operators in the state, saying they are too many. The house made the call on Tuesday following a motion of urgent public importance presented by the member, representing Kunchi/Tsanyawa constituency, Garba Ya’u-Gwarmai.
The Managing Director of KAROTA, Baffa Dan’agundi, had disclosed that no fewer than 65,000 tricyclists had so far been registered with the agency.
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