The Katsina State government has banned the sale of the Boxer brand of motorcycles popularly called “Boko Haram” in all parts of the state, as part of measures to curtail crime and criminality in the area.

The new state commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) for Katsina, Ali Tanimu, who dropped the hint on Wednesday, also said that the Katsina State security council had equally ordered a clampdown on unregistered operators of commercial tricycles and motorcycles.

Tanimu described the Boxer motorcycle as rugged and capable of withstanding rough terrains and bush paths thereby making it choice vehicle for criminals.

Tanimu spoke when he led a delegation from the FRSC on a courtesy visit to the secretariat of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Katsina.

According to him, “there is also a directive to clampdown on tricycles and motorcycle operators in Katsina because most of them are not registered and they use the opportunity to commit various crimes. “They are not captured in our data, making it difficult for us to identify or trace the offenders.

“We also have issues with tricycle operators who use curtains and flowers to decorate their tricycles and they have tinted windscreens and these make it difficult to identify the passengers they convey.

“We have a directive from the state security council to commence enforcement on the ban of such activities with effect from the end of this month and we urge the press to assist us in this campaign.

“The media are indispensable because they disseminate information and that is why they are our partners.

“The exercise for installation of speed limiting device in vehicles is still in progress and enforcement is still on, for commercial vehicles.

“The FRSC deliberately decided to start the exercise with commercial vehicles because if there is any crash, the death toll may involve a larger number of persons than in private vehicles.

“Over speeding is one of the reasons for a number of crashes leading to death.

“The association of vendors of the speed- limiting device has established a manufacturing plant in Nigeria and this development has forced the price to crash and people are at liberty to visit the FRSC portal for the list of accredited vendors and the vendors are also in our office nationwide.

In his remarks, the chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel, Malam Abdulhamid Sabo, urged the FRSC to intensify its road safety campaigns for motorcycle and tricycle operators.

As Sabo put it, “most of the tricycle operators come from the villages and they do not know traffic rules and some of them are drug addicts.

“The FRSC should intensify its road safety education campaign for this category of road users as the riders are trained on the job in a day and the next day, they begin to ride tricycles and motorcycles and pick passengers.” (Daily Sun)

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