As many states of the federation consider the outright ban on tricycle and motorcycles popularly known as Keke/Okada as means of transportation in major cities, a transportation expert and former Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Intergovernmental Affairs, Amb. (Dr.) Anthonia Ekpa OON, has emphasized the need for motorcyclists to take double caution when travelling on the road.
Ekpa stated this while delivering a key note address titled ‘Sustaining economic development through motorcycle and tricycle operations in Nigeria’ at the 2022 strategic stakeholders summit of the Amalgamated Commercial Tricycle and Motorcycle Owners, Repairers and Riders Association of Nigeria (ACOMORAN), which held in Abuja last week.
She noted that commercial motorcycles are gaining popularity as means of transportation because of government’s own effort at empowering its less privileged citizens.
According to her, “it is important for motorcyclists to take double caution when travelling on the road. Adding that, “Nigerians appear to forget that the growth of the number of these set of transport is because of government’s own effort at empowering its less privileged citizens and not a blame game.
“The summit, I believe in my reckoning, is not a session for blame- sharing. Rather, we need as a people to consider the issues dispassionately and find solutions to them as other countries have. These vehicles in Nigeria offer the ‘last mile service’.
“They convey people from where other transport modes stop and take them to the exact destination required. Because of the inconvenience, they undergo accessing bad roads with commuters, their bill is sometimes higher than the average taxi.
“But generally, they go farther than conventional buses or car taxis. They owe their popularity to their ability to get you to remote locations as well as help people beat traffic. In busy cities like Abuja and Lagos where people are always on the move, commercial motorcycles make movements easy” she said.
