Kano ------------- Kano State Road and Traffic Agency, KAROTA, says it has registered 46,169 tricycle operators in the state.
This was made known by the Managing Director of KAROTA, Baffa Dan-Agundi, Thursday.
Dan-Agundi who spoke to newsmen in Kano said the tricyclist operators were registered in the 44 local government areas of the state, adding that 46,169 out of the 60,000 tricycle operators who applied for the registration had been granted the permit to operate in the state.
The manager said that the state had also ordered the registered tricyclists to install trackers on their machines to ensure effective monitoring and curb crimes.
His words, “The law establishing the Agency requires commercial vehicle or tricycle operators to obtain permit at the rate of N8,000 before they are allowed to operate in the state.
“There are about 60,000 tricycle operators who registered in our website but only 46,169 have paid fully for the permit.
“The tracker will capture the bio-data of particular tricycle operator so that whenever and wherever a crime is committed it could be track.”
He stressed that KAROTA usually sensitised tricycle operators on how their trackers operate as well as educate them on traffic regulations, even as the trackers were provided free by the state government.
“The tracker is free, the tricyclists only paid for the permit to enable them operate in the state, the registration is still ongoing.
“The Agency provided over 45,000 trackers to the tricycle operators union for distribution to its members,” he added, pointing out that the Agency would soon embark on inpsection exercise to clamp down on the operators who refused to register and obtain the permit.
Dan-Agundi further added that tricycle operators were expected to pay N100 tax daily, which cumulatively amount to N36,000 at the end of the year.
“The state government is not imposing payment of the tax on tricycle operators due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he further said and urged the tricycle operatirs to pay their tax between now and December, as the Agency would enforce compliance as from January. 1, 2021.
