By Chibuike Nwabuko
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemisola Saraki has siad that only duly registered road transport unions will benefit from the N10 billion Federal Government intervention fund for road transport workers and operators.
Senator Saraki stated this on Tuesday when the National President, National Commercial Tricycle and Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association (NACTOMORAS), Alhaji Muhammed Sani Hassan, led its members on a courtesy call to her office in Abuja. She also tasked the executive council to ensure that their members are duly registered as only properly registered road transporters will be considered for the palliative.
The Minister, while appreciating the association for the visit, called for synergy among transport stakeholders while assuring the delegation of the Federal Government’s commitment to assisting the associations/unions and instill sanity in the sector through a regulatory framework the Ministry is coming up with. She informed that the pandemic has necessitated the need for contact tracing of passengers as normalcy is gradually being restored in the country.
The Honourable Minister brought to the knowledge of the delegation that the Ministry is aware of the role keke and okada operators play in transportation in Nigeria, hinting that the Transport Commissioner’s Forum had also mentioned to her the essential services the operators provide.
The National President in his remarks implored the Honourable Minister of State to give keke and okada operators/owners special consideration in the disbursement of the intervention fund.
According to Alhaji Sani, members of the association were most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as the business is closest to “hand to mouth” which stripped off every little savings they made before the catastrophe due to the stay at home order of the Federal Government. He said that it was a sigh of relief when news emerged that the Federal Government has approved a N10 billion support for road transport operators and workers to assuage their challenges and prayed the Minister to look into their plea favorably.
