FCT won’t allow Keke Napep, Okada back into city centre — Wike
FCT won’t allow Keke Napep, Okada back into city centre — Wike
ABUJA: Minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT, Nyesom Wike, on Tuesday declared that tricycles, popularly known as Keke Napep, and commercial motorcycles, known as Okada, will not be allowed to operate within the Abuja city centre, describing both as a security threat to residents.
Speaking during his monthly media chat in Abuja, Wike said the ban followed a decision reached at a security council meeting, noting that the vehicles had gone beyond being a nuisance to becoming a genuine security concern.
“You talked about Keke Napep and Okada, just this morning I signed the approval because we had a security council meeting where we agreed that they don’t just cause a nuisance but for the issue of security, it has become a threat,” he said.
The minister said security agencies had been directed to identify specific areas where the tricycles and motorcycles would be excluded, acknowledging that an outright ban across the entire territory would be difficult to enforce. “I have told the security people to map out areas where we do not need the Keke Napep and the motorcycles, but it would be difficult to ban them in the entire Abuja, particularly,” he said.
Wike also addressed the presence of destitute and beggars across the capital, saying his administration lacked the resources to provide them with shelter. He said efforts were underway to secure approval for the logistics needed to clear them from the streets, but noted that repeated attempts to remove them had proven ineffective as they kept returning. “We are working that out and just need approval to raise logistics, even destitutes, beggars are all over the place. Each time we move them out they come in again,” he said.
He kicked against suggestions that the FCT Administration should provide accommodation for destitute persons, arguing that doing so would only attract more people from neighbouring states. “Some people say why not provide where they would be staying? How would we continue to be doing that? It means we are encouraging people to leave Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, and Kaduna; how can you fund that?”
