From Mustapha Adamu, Kano
The Gubernatorial Candidate of Kano state’s major opposition party, the Action Democratic Party (ADP), and a member of the House of Representatives Municipal, federal constituency, Sha’aban Ibrahim Sharada has criticized the immediate ban of tricycle operators on the state’s major roads by the Kano state government.
Sharada made the statement in a release made available to newsmen by his Gubernatorial Campaign Council spokesperson, Abbas Yushau Yusuf in Kano yesterday.
According to Sharada, at a time when the government is supposed to come up with an idea of addressing youth restiveness and diverting their attention from commiting crime and drug abuse in Nigeria’s most populous state, “instead it decided to choose the path of persecution.”
Sharada, who is the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Intelligence and National Security, sympathized with commuters and the commercial tricycle operators over what he described as “the hardships being inflicted on them by the government.”
He said “even though the transportation system in Kano State is in urgent need of a total overhaul, the manner in which the current administration is going about it signals an absolute disregard for the livelihood and welfare of the good people of Kano State.
“This measure will subject pregnant women, schoolchildren, and hardworking citizens to unwarranted trekking, leading to the loss of productivity or even lives.”
“In addition, it will retard the economic well-being of the tricycle owners, operators, repairers, oil and spare part merchants, as well as the millions of Kano people who eke out a living from the operation of the tricycles.” He was quoted as saying in the statement.
The ADP gubernatorial candidate blamed the Kano state government for pursuing policies that forced the populace to rely on tricycles in the first place.
“Such policies include the deliberate disregard for metropolitan roads as well as the uncontrolled allocation of parking spaces that makes car owners prefer the tricycles over their own vehicles.”
He said “the government should have brought out a plan that will alleviate the sufferings of commuters and engage the tricycle value chain in economic activities that will replace their lost earnings,”
Sharada therefore called on Kano State citizens to vote for the ADP in the forthcoming election in order to usher in a government that will carry stakeholders along in each and every decision.
