The Amalgamated Commercial Tricycle and Motorcycle Owners, Repairs and Riders Association of Nigeria (ACOMORAN), has condemned the Federal Government’s plan to ban motorcycles nationwide.
The Association said the outright ban would be counter productive and lead to millions of Nigerians being jobless.
National President of ACOMORAN, Samsudeen Adebayo Apelogun, gave the warning on Monday, at a press briefing in Abuja.
Apelogun said, “Commuters see motorcycles as a relief to their transportation problems, while motorcycle riders see their adventure as a source of livelihood. Without a doubt, the use of motorcycles has enhanced mobility for the middle income earners, which by extension has contributed to an increase in production through an increase in man hours.
“Let me put it on record that from experience, 95 percent of those you see riding motorcycles are doing it because they don’t have better options and they don’t want to take to crime.
“If ten million of these 40million people they plan to render jobless take to crime, can the government contain them? If you attribute the movement of terrorists to motorcycles, don’t criminals operate with vehicles? When terrorists regrettably attacked Kuje prison, was it the motorcycle riders that caused the failure of intelligence gathering?”
Recall that the Federal Government, after its security council meeting on July 21st, 2022, gave an indication that it might be compelled to ban the use of motorcycles and mining activities as it had been discovered to be major means of movement by bandits and source of amassing ransom from kidnap victims.