By Abdul Dauda
Commissioner for Transport in Niger, Hajiya Hadiza Kuta, has advised residents to shun tricycles without tracking codes or those with mutilated codes to ensure their safety.
The Commissioner gave the advice while speaking with newsmen in Minna.
“All tricycles operators have tracking numbers, before you board any tricycle, check that it has a tracking number.
“Do not board any tricycle without tracking number. If you do not see the code do not board.
“Commuters can also snap the code of tricycles they intend to board on their phones for easy tracking.
“This has become necessary in the event they forget valuables inside the tricycle or they are robbed,’’
Kuta said the ministry had received reports that some tricycle operators scratched off the tracking codes on their tricycles to make them difficult to track and advised against the boarding of such tricycles.
She said government was also perfecting its plan to introduce a school bus scheme for pupils and students to ease transportation burden of parents.
She explained that the school bus scheme was part of the free education programme promised by the governor to encourage children to go to school.
Kuta added that government would also buy buses that run on Compressed Natural Gas for the Niger State Transportation Authority.
This, she said, would make the company to rely less on petrol and make transportation cheap consequent upon the removal of fuel subsidy.
The commissioner told newsmen that Niger would reintroduce various means of transportation such as rail and water transportation also to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal.
“We are planning to strengthen intra-city, inter-local government areas and inter-state mass transportation services in Niger,’’ Kuta stressed.
