The House of Representatives on Tuesday stepped down a motion calling on the Federal Government to halt the proposed nationwide ban on commercial motorcycles. The Reps are holding off on the motion until adequate palliative measures are put in place.
The motion sponsored Abubakar Makki Yallemen (APC, Jigawa), also prayed that the Federal Government should restrict the proposed ban to the Local Government Areas where the mining activities or banditry/terrorist activities take place.
Yalleman said the House is aware that the proposed ban of motorcycles is aimed at cutting the supply of logistics to the terrorists in the country.
The lawmaker expressed concerns that “the activities of bandits and kidnappings across the country have subjected members of victims’ families to serious psychological trauma even as they are forced to part with their hard-earned money.”
He said while banning commercial motorcycle operations across the country as a means of curtailing security challenges, “the welfare and wellbeing of the citizenry should be considered foremost, as the Federal Government has not offered palliatives measures to cushion the expected effects of the ban.”
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The lawmaker expressed worry that the proposed ban render millions of Nigerians jobless and said putting a sizeable number of the population out of work will only aggravate the security challenges in the country.
But immediately after moving the motion, Ahmed Idris-Wase, the deputy speaker of the House who presided over the plenary asked him to stepdown the motion, as the parliament is obligated to support the federal government in their efforts to curb the worsening insecurity in the country.
Wase said, “We should cooperate with the government, though we appreciate what our brother has brought and we appeal to the government that as they implement this policy, is look at those areas that are not vulnerable and do not have the potency of having any such Insurgency in their community. In line with our principle to help to curb the incessant insecurity in our country we have to cooperate with government.
“You can’t imagine what’s going on today in Abuja. I went through DSS report, 44 report were given before the attack of kuje prison. And it all has to do with this there’s no community where attack will happen that you don’t have an intel. So we have to cooperate with government.”
