The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) Transport Secretariat has commenced the removal of illegal motor parks in the territory with a view to ensuring free flow of traffic on the major highways.
The secretariat also identified the lack of discipline as the major factor contributing to the proliferation of illegal motor parks across the territory, even as over 50 vehicles were impounded during the exercise.
Secretary, FCT Transport Secretariat, Engr. Jonathan Ivoke, said this on Friday during a routine clean-up exercise of illegal motor parks, stressing that despite efforts made by the FCT administration to provide bus terminals, commuters still clustered on the major highways to board vehicles to their various destinations.
He assured that the administration would continue to embark on sensitisation drive on the need to patronise the existing bus terminals, and called on both motorists and commuters to desist from unlawful activities.
He said: “It is regrettable that despite bus terminals provided for motorists by the administration, they still prefer to pick passengers along the major high ways. Besides the fact that these illegal parks pose obstruction on our roads, it equally endangers the lives of commuters. The secretariat will continue to embark on sensitisation of motorists and we will not fail to impound vehicles of offenders. Basically, the problem we have with these commercial motorists is indiscipline because I see no reason why people should prefer a major high way instead of bus terminals.”
He used the occasion to call on Abuja residents not to patronise unpainted taxis in view of the security challenges faced in the nation’s capital.
He said the forthcoming bio-metric on vehicles would go a long in curbing the security issue with a promise those officers of various security agencies would be stationed in strategic locations to ensure that motorists pick passengers in designated areas.
One of the motorists arrested during the exercise, Mr. Tajudeen Shettu, blamed the proliferation of illegal motor parks on the FCT Administration, adding that the bus terminals provided were not enough to accommodate the large influx of vehicles and passengers.