… Many unbranded Taxis in Rivers State Colours may be forced off the roads
Daniel Efe/Port Harcourt
The Rivers State says it has placed a temporary ban on protests around Isaac Boro Park and Government House axis in Port Harcourt from Monday 23rd July, 2018 till further notice and warns any person involved to drop the idea or face the wrath of the law.
The State Government in statement signed by Emma Okah, Commissioner for Information and Communications said “The ban is because reliable security reports show that such protest may be hijacked by hoodlums who are likely to inflict violence on innocent people and cause breach of public peace and order.”
The Statement warned members of the public is to heed this warning and remain vigilant and report suspicious characters to the police.”.
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Many unbranded Taxi cabs owners in Rivers State may be forced out of the roads this week in the major cities in the state as the state government commences the enforcement of the directive that all commercial vehicles must adorned with blue and white state colours.
Investigation by our Correspondent in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, showed that there is minimal compliance to the directive by Commercial Taxi Owners even when more the two months and one week deadline was issued for compliance.
There are two reasons adduced for noncompliance. According to Mr Nathan Nnachukwu, a Commercial Taxi owner the high cost of painting Taxi, which unaffordable to Taxi owners. Another reason is the dilemma of Commercial Taxi Drivers who do it on part time basis just to put food on the table and for private use popularly known as “Kabu-Kabu”.
Mr Akin Babalola, who has driving Airport Taxi at Port International Airport for more than 10 years pointed out that there :”There are some private and public offices premises, that do not allow taxis. Painting commercial taxis in the state colours easily gives taxis away that would hamper patronage.”
However, the Rivers State government would not take any of the above excuses. According to the Commissioner for Transport, Mr Micheal West, the reasons for enforcement are for security purposes, easily identification and enforcement of the state transport laws on commercial Transportation.
The Commissioner of Transport, Mr Micheal West, said after series of dialogue with stakeholders meetings with representative of Commercial Taxi owners the state government gave one month notice for the enforcement. But the Taxi owners pleading for an extension it was granted and additional one month was given yet many Taxi owners refused to comply with the state government directive.
“The move is for security, two is know the number of Commercial Taxis that ply our roads. We will do enumeration and issue each taxi codes for identification. When we have done that in case you lose you items in a commercial vehicle all you do is to report to the ministry and log into our system that will upload the identity of the Taxi owner his phone number.
“We cannot continue allowing lawlessness to continue on our roads”.
The Commissioner said some unbranded Taxis had been impounded but the representative of the State branch of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, pleaded for understanding and one week was further given for compliance.
Some Commuters interviewed on the issue commended the idea but also advised that the state government can also buy vehicles branded in Rivers colour and give out to private hands to manage to cushion the effect noncompliance that may force many taxis out of the roads.
Reacting to the issue, a man who simply gave his name as Chinda Opara also called on security operatives to arrest any taxi driver who fail to comply with the order, noting that criminals uses un-painted commercial vehicles to rob innocent.