The Lagos State Taskforce on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit has impounded 50 power bikes being used by commercial motorcycle operators on prohibited routes. The bikes were impounded on various prohibited routes in Lagos, southwest Nigeria. Such areas include Awolowo Way, Ikeja; Mile 2; WEMPCO Road, Victoria Island and Ikoyi. Since motorcycles with lesser engine capacity have been restricted from plying the state’s highways, the commercial motorcycle riders have devised another means by using 200cc bikes to pick passengers on the prohibited routes.
Taskforce Chairman, Bayo Sulaiman, a Chief Superintendent of Police, said the 200cc motorcycles were seized because the riders flouted the traffic laws of the state.
According to him, power bikes were not meant for commercial purposes and that when they ply the highways, only the riders must be on them because they are meant for courier companies and for private use. The law did not say you have to replace other bikes with 200cc for business. This is not the intention of the state government. They are not for commercial purposes, they are for courier and private use,” he said.
“Anybody caught will be charged to court and the bike will be forfeited to the state government. We have arrested some and arraigned them in court and they were convicted and made to pay fine,” he stated.
He added that “people are banned from using 200cc for doing business in all major roads in the Lagos metropolis. When we arrested some of them, their passengers normally tell us the truth while the riders lie. Some of them even make use of security emblem to escape,” he added.
Sulaiman said the state government has procured 200 power bikes for the police to use in chasing erring riders who flouted the laws of the state, saying that the bikes had been distributed to the various police formations and to the taskforce.
He stated that Lagos State Government would not allow commercial motorcycle operators on the prohibited routes. Via pmnewsnigeria.com
