Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has distributed 610 taxis, tricycles and buses to 3,200 unemployed youths to enhance urban mass transportation in Maiduguri and parts of Jere and Konduga Local Government Areas which fall under the metropolis.
The Governor launched the 610 means of transportation which combine 100 Toyota LE cars for city taxis, 500 tricycles popularly known as ‘Keke NAPEP’ and 10 Ashok Leyland buses each with capacity for 41 passengers at the Ramat Square in Maiduguri, on Thursday.
In a statement by Zulum’s spokesman, Isa Gusau, titled, “Mass transit: Zulum launches 610 taxis, tricycles, buses in Maiduguri”, the governor said the 10 buses will be managed by the Borno Express Transport Corporation for intracity services.
According to him, the 500 tricycles were allocated to 2000 operators with each tricycle owned by a group of four unemployed persons.
Aside the 2,200 persons the tricycles and taxis were allocated to, Zulum also approved N50m for 1000 members of different Keke NAPEP operators who did not benefit from the launch
“The 100 taxis were also allocated to 200 persons with each to be owned by two, making a total of 2,200, the number of persons who benefited from the tricycles and taxis.
“Modalities for the distribution were arrived at after Governor Zulum held meetings with leaders of different associations of Keke NAPEP operators who informed the governor that some of their members form groups to own tricycles and they have their ways of jointly managing them and sharing profits,” the statement read.
Speaking at the event, the State Commissioner for Transport, Dr. Abubakar Tijjani, assured the governor of effective and efficient supervision to ensure functional deployment to routes in line with the governor’s goal of increasing access to mass transport in the metropolis.
On security integrated into the tricycles and taxis, he said each of the 500 tricycles has digital stickers from which passengers can use smart phones to access essential data of all operators.
He also explained that with the stickers, movements of the tricycles will be tracked to ensure each operator only operates within communities they are expected to serve.
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