The Federal Government will soon embark on biometric data
capturing of all commercial motorcycle and tricycle operators in the country to
check crimes perpetrated with the use of tricycles and motorcycles.
The capturing would be done in collaboration with the
Amalgamated Commercial Tricycle and Motorcycle Owners, Repairers and Riders
Association of Nigeria.
The National President of ACOMORAN, Alhaji Shehu Babangida,
announced this in Abuja, on Thursday, while unveiling the technology to be used
for the exercise.
According to him, the proposed data capturing of motorcycle
and tricycle operators would stop the agitation for the nationwide ban on
‘okada’ operators.
He said an Abuja-based indigenous software development
company, Clevland Investment Management Limited, had been chosen as the
technical partner that would carry out the biometric data capturing of ACOMORAN
members.
“The initiative is necessary to enable the association have
a comprehensive biometric database of its members across the country while
deploying technology with a view to managing the security challenges associated
with commercial cyclists,” he stressed.
He said that the modalities for the nationwide biometric
capturing would be unveiled soon, adding that ACOMORAN would “collaborate with
the Federal Government to tackle the security challenges in the country”.
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, faulted
those canvassing for the banning of ‘okada’ nationwide, saying such a move
would have a negative effect on the economy.
He suggested that rather than ban commercial motorcycles and
tricycles, there should be a “reorientation of the riders and a proper control
of their activities that will make them obey rules and regulations in their
various states.”
The minister said commercial cyclists are useful to the
masses in general, especially farmers and people in remote areas who relied
solely on them as means of transportation in Nigeria.
“So banning them would have a negative effect on the people
who depend on them for their livelihoods,” he said.
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