FCTA crushes 601 impounded motorcycles

ABUJA: The Directorate of Road Traffic Services DRTS in the Federal Capital Territory Administration FCTA has crushed no fewer than 601 motorcycles it impounded within the nation’s capital for operating in restricted areas.

Mandate Secretary for Transportation in the FCTA, Elechi Chinedum, who led officials to the crushing site, said the administration acted under its own Regulations.

He said; “I need to re-emphasise what the director has just said about the reason why we are here, which is to crush impounded motorcycles. As we speak, we are acting under the Regulations of the FCT. The most recent Regulation, which is the law on this subject matter, is that of 1st January 2023.

“It was signed into law by the immediate past administration of Muhammad Bello as FCT minister. So it is a law that if you use your motorbike in a particular area, it is against the law, which is what we are here for today. There is nothing we can do apart from enforcing the law.

All laws are made, and then people take it upon themselves to violate the law. Initially, when this started, it was basically for purposes of maybe aesthetics, because this is FCT, so there has to be some kind of decent movement but right now it is more concerning because it is about the security aspect, the criminal aspect. So we have our people in the streets, and part of the work this directorate does is to enforce”.

DRTS director Abdulateef Bello, said the essence of the exercise was to curtail traffic abuses in the territory.

He said; “This exercise has been our usual routine to support the ban, the existing ban on the use of commercial motorcycles in the federal capital city. You will recall that the ban was initiated in 2006. The idea then was that we should be able to control and curtail their traffic abuses in the federal capital city. But as it is today, it is becoming more of a security threat, you know, commercial motorcycles have been used to facilitate crimes and criminality in the federal capital city.

“So we are again using this medium to send a message to those who are still investing in this line of business to think twice because we will continue to crush motorcycles that are already forfeited by the court to deter other people from plying the city. So this is again the beginning of the year, this is the first exercise in the year, we have about 601 motorcycles that have been impounded that will be crushed today. So this is the reason why we are here.”