Tricycle operators’ strike: Okada riders, mini truck make brisk business in Kano

The strike action embarked upon by commercial tricycle operators in Kano state has indirectly paved way for the return of Okada riders, locally known as Achaba in the state.

Solacebase reports that the tricycle operators on Monday embarked on a 7-day warning strike to protest the annual N8,500  registration number renewal and payment of N100 daily levy on Sunday imposed by Kano Road Traffic Agency, KAROTA.

However, as the strike action entered into second day, people in the second most populous city in Nigeria resorted to using the Achaba to be moving them around.

This newspaper recalls that the Kano State Government had in 2013 banned commercial tricycles from operating in the state due to insecurity.

Also, in 2020, the state government, through KAROTA, banned motorcyclists from carrying a passenger, especially in the metropolis, due to insecurity.

Read Also:Passengers stranded as tricycle operators strike in Kano

But, with the ongoing strike by the tricycle operators in the state, there are indications that the Achaba had returned as people are seeing moving around the city on Jingchen and even automatic machines as a result of the absence of the tricyclists on the roads.

This newspaper also observed that apart from the Achaba, mini trucks, popularly known as Y’ar Kurkura in Kano, is also holding sway as a means of transportation in the state.

The mini trucks are seen ferrying passengers, both male and female and move them around their destinations for a fare.

“I want to go to my place of work, and I don’t have a personal vehicle. As I was standing on the roadside, with hope of getting some one to give me lift, just a motorcyclist, on Lifan automatic bike, stopped in my front and asked me where I was heading to.

“After I told him, he asked how much I would give him. I then asked him that is it a commercial. They guy said yes and asked me to give him N200.

“I agreed and he took me to my place of work,” said Nuhu Masa, a government worker.

Another passenger, Sadiya Abba, Sa’id she and her younger brother boarded a Boxer motorbike to Tarauni to collect her clothes from a tailor.

She said the rider took them from Darmanawa area to the Tarauni at initial N100, adding that “when I asked him to return us to our area , the rider said i should pay N200.”

Also, our reporter observed how people, especially women boarded the mini trucks to go to places within the city.

At Lagos Street, our reporter saw how women are rushing to board a mini truck to take them to Rimin Kebe area of Nassarawa Local Government area of the state.

Also, along Maiduguri Road, our reporter saw another Y’ar Kurkura, carrying a handful of ladies on the truck, and heading towards Mariri area.

Though our reporter could not speak with the passengers, the mini bus was believed to be carrying them for fare.

Solacebase reports that the strike action had paralysed business and academic activities in the city, just as it coincided with the resumption of a new academic session in Kano schools.

This newspaper gathered that both the Managing-Director of KAROTA, Baffa Babba Dan’agundi and the tricycle operators have drawn a battle line, as both parties are showing no-retreat-no-surrender posture.

It now remains to see if stakeholders would intervene in the impasse in order to resolve the matter amicably for the good of the state.