Abia Govt  explains shift of tricycles operations restriction enforcement

… hints on relocating Isigate traders soon

From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia

 Abia state government says it put on hold,  the  enforcement of the policy to restrict operations of commercial tricycles (Keke) and motorcycles (Okada) in Aba and Umuahia to allow all stakeholders to prepare well and adjust before full implementation of the policy.

Commissioner for Information and Culture, Prince Okey Kanu, who announced this while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the weekly State Executive Council meeting, disclosed that plans were afoot to introduce Compressed Natural Gas (CNG)-powered buses in Aba and Umuahia cities.

At the joint briefing held at Government House, Umuahia, on Monday evening, the government hinted that relocation of traders at Isigate may happen soon, event as it expressed gladness with the cooperation of civil servants who have begun uploading their credentials online as they were earlier directed.

Recall that at last week’s EXCO meeting, the Council resolved to restrict Keke and Okada hours of operations in Aba and Umuahia, from 7 p.m to 6 a.m, daily.

The policy was proposed to come into effect on Monday, July 1, 2024.

However, enforcement of the policy, borne out of the need to check insecurity and criminalities in the state, was shifted by one month, to August 1, 2024.

According to the Commissioner, the state government decided to extend the enforcement date based on appeals  by stakeholders.

“As a listening government and in response to the pleas and yearnings of Abians which we got through various feedback channels, the state government decided to extend the enforcement of that policy by one month, to enable all stakeholders to get more prepared for the effective implementation and enforcement of the policy,” Kanu said.

He however said that other arrangements, including the enumeration and registration of all commercial vehicles, tricycles and motorcycles commenced as planned on July 1, 2024, stressing that it was also part of the preparations for implementation of the policy.

Prince Okey Kanu announced that the state government plans to introduce CNG-powered buses to fill the gaps that may be created by the restriction policy.

“To sustain the gains made by government with regards to extending  business hours in the state, particularly in Aba and Umuahia, the state government will embark on a number of initiatives  with a view to filling whatever gaps may be created by the introduction of restrictions.

“As part of the  incentives to operators in the transport  sector to drive this new policy, the state government plans to introduce CNG -powered buses to complement whatever gaps that would be created by the full implementation of restriction policy.

“The arrangement will be such that Keke and Okada operators will form cooperatives or clusters to access these buses and the bottom line is to ensure that commuters still move around, especially during  this period of restriction,” Prince Kanu stated.

Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Citizen Ukoha Njoku Ukoha, said government was hopeful that the CNG-powered buses would be in place in time with the building of a vehicle assembly plant in the state nearing completion, as well as the plan by Innoson Motors to build a plant in Aba for conversion of vehicles running on diesel and petrol to CNG-powered automobiles.

Further more, the Information Commissioner disclosed that public and civil servants in the have started complying with the directive to upload their credentials online as  a total of  36,875 academic certificates have already been uploaded.

He added that a total of 25,458 career documents have equally been uploaded while 7,582 have been moved  to various institutions for verification.

Upload of the credentials, as disclosed by the Commissioner, signifies that the Abia workers may have called the bnluff of organized Labour which had warned them against complying with the government’s directive to upload their credentials online, branding it as another form of verification, or that Labour may have rescinded it’s anti-upload stance.

The Commissioner said that a good number of workers have uploaded their credentials  and encouraged those yet to comply to do so in their own interest.

The Information boss also said that despite the rains, various road projects of the state government were going on unabated, adding that the designs for the expansion of the road from Abia Express Tower to Onuimo, as well as enumeration of structures within the Right-of-Way from Owerrinta bridge to Umuika Junction, were in progress; just as other road rehabilitation and reconstruction works were ongoing.

On the poor state of the road along Cooperative, a busy intersection in Umuahia metropolis, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr. Ferdernand Ekeoma, said that it would be fixed along side Isigate, a place regarded as the epicentre of the state capital but occupied by street traders, hinting that the traders would be relocated soon.

Said Ekeoma: “Governrnment is intentional about clearing the mess there (Cooperative) as well as relocate the people there and those that are at Isigate.

“We are a government of due process. Goverment had  concluded plans to relocate all those at Isigate. But if we ask them to leave the place without an alternative, we would have caused a  lot of economic challenges for people there.

“A very strategic place has been identified and governrment is about to acquire it. So, it is the same thing that we are going to do in Cooperative.”