By John Ikani
Niger State government has attributed the ban of commercial motorcycles in Minna to criminal activities perpetrated by bandits in the state.
This was made known in a statement issued by Mohammed Ketso, Niger deputy governor.
According to Ketso, the ban on motorcycles will take effect on June 3 but private owners can operate between 6am and 9pm daily.
“These are parts of measures being put in place by the government towards addressing the rising security situation in the state, especially Minna, the state capital,” he said.
While assuring of the government’s commitment towards supporting security agencies with the required logistics to secure the state, Ketso apologised for inconveniences the ban may have caused.
Security situation in Niger state
Niger is one of the Northern states in Nigeria most affected by bandits attacks. Other states include Kaduna, Zamfara and Katsina.
The fragile state of security in the State was compounded on Sunday as armed bandits abducted many pupils of the Islamic school in Tegina, a densely populated town in Rafi Local Government Area of the state.
The bandits reportedly attacked the police station in the town and went round the town shooting sporadically into the air to scare residents before breaking into a private school where they abducted children attending Islamic lectures.
The mass abduction of the Islamic school students was the second to be perpetrated in Rafi local government in six months.
Asides the attack on schools, thousands of residents across different local government areas of the state have been displaced after the invasion of bandits.
Besides the threat posed by banditry, the state governor Sani Bello in April confirmed the presence of the dreaded Boko Haram terrorists in Shiroro LGA of Niger State.
With Nigeria’s seat of power located just two hours from Niger state, Bello warned that “even Abuja is not safe” if care is not taken to flush out the insurgents who had made Nigeria the third most terrorised country in the world for six years running, according to the Global Terrorism Index.
