In accordance with its ban on motorcycles popularly known as ‘Okada’ activities in the nation’s capital, Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has crushed nearly 1,700 seized motorcycles.

It would be recalled that in 2006, the authorities prohibited motorbike operators from operating within the city centre.

Dr Abdulateef Bello, Director, FCT Directorate of Road Traffic Services, told journalists at the start of the second phase of the exercise in Wuye on Wednesday that destroying the motorcycles will act as a deterrent to other recalcitrant ones.

He explained that the most recent drill was held in December 2021, during which many others were destroyed.

According to Bello, “The effort of the enforcement on okada ban in FCT is yielding so many results. Today, we are starting with over 1,700 motorcycles; they were impounded from people that remain adamant about operating within unauthorized areas.

“The DRTS task force always demonstrates a substantial capacity to manage the enforcement but it would not be enough without the cooperation and support of the command and control established in the Federal Capital Territory Administration with the support of the joint security task force being managed by the FCT Police Command. So, today we are marking another beginning by performing the crushing,” he said.

On his part, the FCT commissioner of police, CP Sunday Babaji who was represented by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Hauwa Ibrahim said: “The reasons behind the impounding of motorcycles in Abuja, was as a result of criminal activities being conducted by some persons, using motorcycles.

“They use them in snatching of bags, bank robberies, attacks on residential areas and they were becoming security threat to the security of FCT, on that note there was outcry that led to the banning of motorcycles within the city in 2006 by the FCT Administration, since then we have been working together in impounding Okada,” he added.

The Mandate Secretary FCT Transportation Secretariat, Usman Yahaya said despite the challenge of the motorcycle operators the Secretariat would not be overwhelmed, adding that “The motorcycle operators are stubborn but we won’t relent in our efforts to stop them from operating in the city centre.”

Meanwhile, the Senior Special Assistant on Monitoring, Inspection and Enforcement, Comrade Ikharo Attah said “Anyone who owns a motorcycle that costs 350,000 naira and they’re impounded, is enough pain for them. Taxi drivers with rickety vehicles, no headlight, no bumper, faulty brake pad, it’s enough pain for them. For those who have rickety buses, it’s enough pain for them.

“We’re humans as well, when we take this from them, we believe we’ve taken so much and one thing fundamental about enforcement that we’ve all come to believe all of us, the best answer to sustain enforcement is more enforcement going forward.

“When you take somebody’s okada worth 350,000 naira you know for sure that you’ve taken something very heavy and you’re crushing it and the person goes back again to bring more, we will crush.

“And the appeal, most of these okadas are not owned by the riders. People actually give them what they call balance and carry; they should desist from this because once we get them, they are gone and you don’t need to waste your money. And we’re ultimately going to take a tough decision on this,” he added. (Daily Independent)

Update news