Niger expends N472.5m on 1,000 tricycles

The Niger State Government on Thursday said it has approved over N472.5 million to acquire 1,000 tricycles, popularly called ‘Keke’, insisting that it will not rescind its earlier decision on the outright ban of the use of commercial motorcycles, popularly called ‘Okada’, in Minna, the state capital.
The Commissioner for Transport, Abubakar Mohammed Garba, told journalists at a post-State Executive Council meeting briefing in Minna that the government has also made plans to engage a company to train 400 mechanics that will fix faulty tricycles.
According to Abubakar: “We have purchased 1,000 tricycles at a total cost of N472,500,000 million that will take over from the okada riders.
“We are not going to rescind our earlier decision on the ban because most of these motorcycle (Okada) riders are from Chad and Niger Republic, who are threat to our security.
“We have had over 80 per cent of accident cases in Minna caused by these riders, but after the ban, I called the doctors at the General Hospital and I was amazed when they said ‘this is the first time in over 35 years that the General Hospital is recording zero per cent on Okada accident’.”
The commissioner also said that the ban might be extended to other parts of the state with the huge success recorded in terms of zero per cent in accident and low crime rate in Minna.
Abubakar further assured that the 1,000 keke will be given directly to the youths of Niger State without a third-party agreement, adding: “It is our own way of creating an additional 1,000 jobs for the unemployed in the state.”