By EMMANUEL YATAI

Staff, students and other members of the Federal University of Education Pankshin (FUEP) community have expressed their frustration over the disappearance of the 34 newly commissioned electric tricycles.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that the tricycles were inaugurated on Aug. 13, to ease transportation challenges for students and the university community.

A correspondent of NAN who visited the institution on Wednesday, reports that only six of the tricycles were operating, prompting concerns among staff, students and residents.

Mr Adebayo Enoch, Manager of the newly commissioned tricycles, who spoke to NAN, attributed the development to challenges involving the riders, adverse weather conditions and difficulties in charging the tricycles.

Enoch said most of the riders had returned the tricycles after discovering that they could not meet the agreed daily target.

“About two weeks ago, House of Destiny (HOD) and management of the company had a meeting with the riders who accepted the offer to hire the tricycles for a daily return of N10,000.

“After accepting the terms of the business, most of the riders suddenly returned the tricycles, claiming they could not meet up with the initial agreement,” he said.

He also lamented the effect of bad weather and inadequate electricity supply to charge the tricycles, saying sometimes they were unable to charge the batteries for many hours.

According to him, it takes between four and five hours to fully charge a tricycle, after which it can operate for about eight hours before the battery runs down.

Enoch said House of Destiny Global Services would determine the next line of action on the matter.

On his part, Mr Christopher Simon, one of the riders, said he was facing two major challenges, namely poor battery life and the daily revenue target.

“A fully charged battery can only sustain me for five hours before coming back to charge for another five hours, and before you know it, the day has already gone,” he said.

Simon said meeting the N10,000 daily target was difficult, particularly with an additional N2,000 recharge fee.

“I only raised N7,000 from morning till noon before going back to recharge for hours. How many hours then do I have to work before meeting my target?” he asked.

He said the business was not profitable because of the poor battery capacity and inadequate sunlight to support the solar charging system.

“Of a truth, there is no gain in this business due to the poor battery strength and insufficient sunlight to support the solar energy in charging them fast.

“However, we have already signed an agreement with the company and are making all the necessary sacrifices, hoping that the management will renegotiate the initial agreement,” Simon said.

Similarly, Mr Hassan Gambo, another rider, said the battery capacity was insufficient to sustain the tricycles throughout the day.

According to Gambo, the riders have to spend about five hours during their operations recharging the batteries.

“None of us is able to meet the daily target because, like me, I only raise N5,000 from the start of operation until the battery runs down.

“As you can see, this is a students’ environment, and the tricycles are already restricted to some particular operational areas. Besides, there are other tricycles already in operation,” he said.

Gambo said the approved fare of N200 from the university to town and N100 within the university premises was not sufficient to enable the riders to meet the daily target, given the challenges.

He said the challenges had forced most of the riders to abandon the tricycles. (NAN)