Following the expiration of Oct. 1 deadline
for the registration of unpainted commercial
vehicles also known as “kabu kabu”, the FCT
Transport Secretariat has begun the arrest of
defaulters.
Mr Jonathan Ivoke, the Secretary, Federal
Capital Territory (FCT) Transportation
Secretariat, told journalists in Abuja on
Thursday that commercial drivers would be
arrested for using unpainted and unlicensed
vehicles.
“There are so many traffic offences that go
on daily; one of them is the use of illegal,
unlicensed, unpainted, unauthorised and
unidentified vehicles as taxi cabs and buses
in FCT.
“They are aware that it is an offence to do
so and it is our duty not only to remind
them that it is an offence to do so but to
enforce compliance”, Ivoke said.
He said that the FCT administration had told
the estate mangers to allow only painted
taxis to operate in their environs.
According to him, the secretariat had created
five transit zones for effective enforcement
and that it will monitor movement of
vehicles in all the housing estates.
“We had meetings with the estate managers;
we told them that they were mandated to
allow only painted taxis that belong to
licensed operators.
“They are supposed to allow only drivers that
belong to these organisations to drive into
their estates because we have their biometric
information.
“We have already informed them that come
Oct. 1, we will commence strict
implementation”, he said.
He said the administration has enough
commercial vehicles to service the
commuters in the FCT and so urged drivers
to register with licensed operators.
He added that it was the duty of the
government to protect the residents and to
ensure that incidents of “one chance”,
robbery and abuse of passengers were
prevented.
He listed the licensed operators for taxis to
include: National Union of Road Transport
Workers Ltd; Painted Abuja Taxi (PAT); and
Self-Employed Commercial Drivers
Association (SECDA) limited.
Others are: Road Transport Employers
Association and the National Association of
Road Transport Ltd.
According to him, the FCT administration
commenced a programme called replacement
of rickety taxis in 2011 in order to phase out
such taxi cabs.
“There is a programme we stated in 2011
that we called replacement of rickety taxis;
we want to replace all the rickety taxi cabs
in the FCT with brand new ones.
“The minister has purchased 340 and we
have distributed all of them to drivers
belonging to these licensed operators and
that is how it is going to continue”, he said.
(NAN)
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