Why 80% of commercial motorcyclists don’t have plate number plates, drivers’ licences – ACOMORAN

Commercial motorcyclists on Thursday appealed to the Federal Government to reduce the cost of drivers’ licence and number plate to make them affordable for operators across the country.
Shehu Babangida, National President, Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle Riders’ and Owners Association of Nigeria, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja.
Babangida told NAN that 80 per cent of ACOMORAN members didn’t have drivers’ licences and number plates because government charged same prices for both vehicles and motorcycles.
He said that this needed to be reviewed in order to make the cost of obtaining the licences affordable for motorcyclists.
Babangida said that the rates for plate numbers in some states were cheaper than others and called for unified charges across the country.
He said: “We are working on a unified plate number charges for our members in all the states and we have also discussed the issue of drivers’ licence with the Federal Road Safety Corps.
“We want our members to have drivers’ licence because 80 per cent of our members don’t have drivers’ licence due to the high price.
“FRSC is charging motorcycle riders and vehicle owners the same price for licence; this is not fair, we are low income earners.
“The volume of money government is losing is huge.”
Babangida said that reducing the charges would make them affordable for commercial motorcyclists while the government would generate additional billions of naira.
According to him, a joint team of ACOMORAN and FRSC officials has been set up to work out modalities on resolving the issue.