FCTA impounds 224 Keke NAPEP

Ayoni M. Agbabiaka

The ministerial task force inaugurated two weeks ago to rid the Federal Capital City of all social menace has impounded  224 Tricycles (Keke NAPEP) operating in undesignated areas of the Abuja metropolis.

Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, said this while addressing journalists in his office.
He said the impounded tricycles had been deposited at the headquarters of the FCT Directorate of Road Traffic Services in Mabushi District.
He said a total number of 165 commercial motorcycles (Okada) had also been impounded within the same period and deposited at the Abuja auto pound, Gosa.

According to him, prior to the inauguration, about 504 motorcycles were impounded within the months of January and February 2014, and another 5,090 impounded in 2013, bringing the total number of commercial motorcycles deposited at the auto pound to 14,950.
The minister said that 53 vehicles were evacuated from illegal mechanic workshops in the Abuja metropolis while 18 abandoned vehicles were also picked up last year; affirming that the operation is on-going.

He further said that the FCT Directorate of Road Traffic Services embarked on mandatory annual inspection for road worthiness during which 196,472 vehicles were subjected to routine inspection out of which 2,473 failed.
On traffic offences in the Federal Capital City, he said that 128 traffic offenders were arraigned between January and February 2014 out of which 97 were convicted and made to pay fines with 31 discharged and acquitted.
On the issuance of vehicle number plates, the minister said that 95,234 private, 9,340 commercial and 300 CT were issued in 2013, in addition to a total of 28,141 driver’s license that were also issued in the year 2013.

“Between January and February 2014, the FCT Administration registered over 14,000 vehicles and issued 2,005 driver’s licence respectively,” he said.
The minister however advised operators of tricycles and commercial motorcycles
to confine themselves within designated areas to avoid sanctions, including impounding of their vehicles.
He also charged all motorists in the territory not to flout traffic rules and regulations as the enforcement agencies had been put on full alert to arrest and prosecute offenders.