LCCI Wants Lagos to Review Ban on Commercial Motorcycles
The Lagos State Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has called on the state government to review the current ban on the operation of commercial motorcycles and tricycles in some major highways in the state in order to ameliorate the hardship faced by commuters.
The LCCI said the stakeholders’ engagement would also fine tune the traffic law and enforcement strategies as well as reduce the current wide-ranging routes covered by the restriction, and limit it only to major road corridors.
A statement issued by the agency, which was signed by the Director-General of LCCI,
Dr. Muda Yusuf, said the review of the ban was urgent in order to “give some room for the ordinary citizens to commute since laws are made for man and not the other way round.”
Yusuf argued that: “The tolerance and latitude for operation of tricycles should be expanded as they play vital complementary roles to other forms of transportation in the state. They are affordable, scalable, divisible, flexible and less of a nuisance than the motorbikes.
“Regulatory capacity should be strengthened to ensure traffic discipline among all categories of road users.”
The chamber insisted that strict enforcement of the traffic law in its current form would have profound social, economic and political costs. “Commuters would suffer untold hardship as there is no immediate alternative to fill the gap which the wide-ranging restriction would create.
“There would also be high transportation cost as commuter buses are likely to hike their fares. They would naturally take advantage of the surge in demand. “There is also the investment effect on emerging innovative investments in the commercial motorbike sector some of which have invested billions of naira in the sector.
“Connectivity of domestic economic agents would suffer a deceleration. The tempo and momentum of economic activities would experience a slow down as the velocity of business transactions would be adversely affected. This would also take a toll on the huge and vibrant informal economy in the state. There will also be massive extortion by the enforcement agents,” Yusuf noted.