Onitsha (Anambra) – Commercial tricycle and motorcycle riders in Onitsha on Wednesday appealed to Gov. Willie Obiano to rescind the ban on their activities in key routes in the commercial city.
In the alternative, they appealed to him to shift the implementation of the order to a much later time.
The riders, who are popularly known as `Keke’ and `Okada’ respectively, made their demands during a peaceful demonstration in collaboration with a coalition of civil society organisations.
The protesters held placards some of which read: “We love you, our dear governor, please extend the ban to after six months’’; “Gov. Obiano, give us empowerment as most of us are graduates’’; “We don’t have any means of livelihood, give us alternatives’’ and “We need jobs, please don’t ban us,’’ among others.
Addressing journalists, the leader of civil society organisations in Anambra, Mr Uzor Uzor, said that the demonstration was to appeal to the government to extend the period of the grace for the ban to six months.
He said that the extension would enable the riders to find alternative means of livelihood.
“Most of these people are married and have dependants who are feeding from them; that is why we are appealing to Gov. Obiano to review the regulation,’’ Uzor said.
The Co-ordinator of tricycle operators in Onitsha, Mr Odirachukwumma Nwigwe, appealed to the governor to provide buses or cabs to make it easier for them to switch over to other means of livelihoods to cater for their families.
“More than 80 per cent of keke and okada riders are indigenes of Anambra and we are more than 30,000.
“We are willing to abandon the business if the government can pay us at least N30,000 monthly; so we appeal to the governor to review the regulation or provide us with alternatives,’’ he appealed.
The Co-ordinator of the okada riders in Onitsha, Mr Godson Nwiwu, in his comment, said that the ban had adversely affected the lifestyle of their families.
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“The worst of it all is that there is no alternative routes for us to ply since the ban in Onitsha, that is why we are appealing to the governor to provide alternative,’’ Nwiwu said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the protesters marched from Zik Avenue to Upper Iweka, through Port Harcourt, Owerri and Oguta roads, and from Awka Road to Old Market Road.
Obiano on May 25 announced the ban on commercial tricycles and motorcycles on major highways in the state. (NAN)
