The Ban On Commercial Motorcycles By Abia State Government, Another Depiction Of Parochialism And Meaness.
Wednesday (Nkwo) 24-06-2026.
Any Government that is people-oriented must, at all times, be broad-minded and circumspect in churning out state policies.
In that case, before a policy that affects the populace is issued, the pros and cons of such a policy should be adequately weighed.
It is, at least, an open secret that the times are hard in Abia State. Not withstanding the humongous amount of money the APC Federal Government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has been releasing to Local Government Councils in the State, the Councils are said not to be in control of their statutory financial allocations. A visit to the Local Government Areas of the State quickly portrays a picture of glaring poverty amongst the people.The aftermath of this said deviation and deprivation is that poverty has been ravaging the grassroots of Abia State.
Graduate unemployment in Abia State is believed to be very high, taking into consideration that on commencement in 2023, the Labour Party Government in the State sacked about Seven Thousand Abians from her Civil and Public Services, inhumanely escalating the obnoxious challenges of youth unemployment in the State.
One major safeguard that has stood for the teaming number of unemployed youths in Abia State has mainly been the use of motorcycles for commercial transportation. Many unemployed youths in Abia State, including a high percentage of Graduates of Higher Institutions, have resorted to making a legitimate living out of commercial motorcycles. Of course, this resort is, by far, safer and better than resorting to any manner of criminality, just to fill the stomach.
Placing a ban on commercial motorcycles in cosmopolitan areas of Umuahia, Aba, and Ohafia is commendable, as their mere presence could pollute and defect the urban environments.
Granted that some operators of commercial motorcycles might be involved in crime, that should not be enough for a blanket ban on commercial motorcycles.
Besides, that the Abia State Government has suddenly woken up to contemplate a ban on commercial motorcycles only after the Member representing Obingwa-West State Constituency in Abia State House of Assembly, and 2027 Abia-South Senatorial Candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, Hon Erondu Uchenna Erondu, Jnr, had magnanimously doled out hundreds of motorcycles to Abia-South Youths, with a firm promise to give another set of Three Hundred Motorcycles to the Youths in Abia-South Senatorial District soonest, only shows that the Government is just being aggressively parochial and mean.
In a decent democratic clime, a Government should not be so nervous that it resorts to formulating emergency policies principally to clamp down on the rising profile of an APC opposition politician in the State.
Rather than such display of narrow-mindedness, Abia State Government, should engage deeply in intelligence gathering. It should be proactive.
Above all, Abia State Government should realize that one of the best ways to guarantee security of lives and properties in the State is by allowing statutory financial allocations meant for the Local Government Councils in the State to be reasonably, if not wholly, accessible to the Councils. Until that is done, Abia State Government will continue to enact policies that are, at best, panicky.
Sir Don Ubani is a former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Abia State, and Publisher of Equity Global Reporters Ltd.
