Tricycle Riders Ground Commercial Activities In Yola
By Tom Garba,Yola.
Commercial activities were today grounded in Jimeta, the commercial Headquarters of Adamawa State for over three hours.
This was as a result of a protest action carried out by Tricycle riders today in the state capital over the numerous dues being paid by them.
The riders distracted commercial activities in Mubi roundabout, one of the commercial nerves center in the metropolis forcing business premises to shut down for fear of vandalization.
The protesters who barricade all the four roads linking the the Mubi roundabout causing grilled lock for several hours also stop business activities at the Jimeta modern market.
According to Mohammed Galadima one of the leaders of the tricycle riders said “we are protesting because of the charges we are being subjected to pay every day”
” We pay N100 in the morning and by noon, they ask you to pay another N100, more worrisome is that if you ride into Yola South from Yola North, you pay another money even when you can hardly differentiate between the two local government areas”
Apart from this amount we also pay N6500 every year to the state government through the ministry of Transportation, another rider said.
The Riders also accused the Jimeta Marshall established by Yola North local government council who always force them to pay money sometime they don’t give receipt.
“we blocked this roads because we leant that the governor will pass through this road today, this is only way the governor will not only hear our complain but also see us and help us to address this problem” David Samuel added.
When contacted, the Permament Secretary, Ministry of Transportation, Barrister Asiyale Ananze said the ministry introduced ICT registration of all tricycle owners and riders in the state to reduce security challenges involving tricycle popularly known as (Keke Napel).
What we did, was asking them to buy a form for N1000 and another N3000 which was paid to the Board of Internal Revenue, the N3000 is an annual fee for all tricycle in the state, it is not true that we collected N6,500. the PS said.
*Since we introduced the this ICT registration of Tricycles, we have been able trace and recovered items stolen from their passengers by the shila boys criminals”.
As at the time of filling this report, the office of the Jimeta Marshall is being destroyed by the angry Keke riders.
Efforts to reach the Jimeta Marshall Commander failed as he was said to having meeting with the chairman of Yola North, while the commissioner of police Adamawa State command S.K Akande who was at the scene of the event refused to comment
