By Sarah NEGEDU
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has impounded 40 cars and 52 motorcycles in its latest clampdown on commercial transport operators violating traffic rules and aiding criminal activities in Abuja.
Mandate Secretary of the FCT Transport Secretariat, Barr. Chinedu Elechi, said the operation was carried out by a multi-agency task force comprising the police, civil defence and other security outfits, with a focus on tackling crimes such as kidnapping and the notorious “one chance” robberies.
The Secretary who was at the Wuye command of DRTS to inspect the seized vehicle for himself, explained that while commercial motorcycles seized during the raid would be crushed, vehicles would be subjected to mobile court processes before final decisions are taken.
“We don’t just impound, the owners will face a mobile court. So what we’ll do with them will depend on the court order, where we can tell you straight away that the bikes are crossed. But all of these things happen after the court order,” Elechi said.
The Secretary stressed that the clampdown would be sustained as long as violators persist, warning that the FCTA will not relent in enforcing order in the transport sector.
In his words, “If the people use the bikes and the unpainted vehicles, so long as they are not tired of violating the law, we too cannot be tired. So sustainability is as they violate. It’s an FCT task. We’ll keep doing it and doing it.”
He noted that the clampdown was not limited to transport regulation but also tied to wider security concerns in the capital city. “There has to be sanity. The function of government is actually the welfare and security. And so we’ll not be tired because we know that one of the security breaches is this use of unpainted vehicles to carry passengers. That is where the one chance thing happens. It hardly happens with the painted taxis,” he added.
Elechi further disclosed that the administration is working on profiling all commercial drivers in Abuja as part of measures to sanitise the sector. He said taxis would be allocated numbers, painted, and registered to ensure that commuters only enter identifiable vehicles.
“We’re going to have security programmes involving getting all the drivers. We’ll allocate numbers to all the taxis. If you’re going to be doing transportation in Abuja, we’re going to profile all commercial drivers so that everybody will know that when you’re entering a commercial vehicle, it is painted, it has a side number. If you decide to use your personal vehicle to do transportation, we will come after you because that is how the one chance thing happens,” he said.
On the newly commissioned bus terminals, the Mandate Secretary explained that operations would commence fully once procurement processes for private operators under a public-private partnership arrangement are concluded.
“If you go to Mabuchi now, you see that some of our vehicles are already arriving. The difference between government and private is that it’s the bureaucracy. So once the procurement process is done on hiring the operator, we’re good to go,” he stated.
Acting Director of the FCT Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS), Deborah Osho, also clarified that the vehicles and motorcycles were seized for a range of traffic offences, with unpainted commercial taxis topping the list.
“They were impounded for various traffic offences. We have some for route violation. We have some for driving against the traffic. And the major one is the unpainted commercial vehicles. You can see that a lot of vehicles around there are not painted. And those are the ones that have been used mostly for one chance,” Osho explained.
She added that 52 motorcycles and four tricycles were also confiscated, mainly for route violations and links to criminal activities. “These ones also are mostly used for criminal activities. You can see for bag snatching and all manner of activities in the town. And that is what we have just done. We have four KK also, that is a tricycle. They are also brought in for route violation,” she said.
