Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, says taxi driving is a noble means of livelihood and should be embraced to make a decent income.
Wike stated this at the FCT Renewed Hope Youth Empowerment Programme in the Garki area of Abuja on Thursday when he handed over 80 new cars to beneficiaries to use as taxis.
“They are not paying a dime. No; the government is saying this is our support to feed your family and reduce the cost of transportation in the city… Abuja should compete with other cities in the world,” said the minister.
He encouraged the beneficiaries not to be ashamed that they are being empowered to be taxi drivers, saying that many Nigerians who reject taxi driving jobs at home gladly embrace such when they travel abroad.
“What you will see in the social media is that he wants them to be taxi drivers. We travel and see Nigerians who stay abroad and work as taxi drivers,” the former Rivers State governor said.
“Nigerians at home will say our uncle is in London, my uncle is in Houston, my uncle is in Paris, my uncle has sent us $200 but he (the uncle abroad) makes his money as a taxi driver, feeds his family and pays his taxes.
“Instead of encouraging how to feed our families, the next thing we will see in social media is that they are giving them jobs as taxi drivers.
“We can’t be taxi drivers here but we prefer taxi driving in London. That is the country you are in.”
To curtail kidnapping and cases of ‘one-chance’ robbery, the minister said effective January 2025, any commercial bus not duly profiled by security agencies won’t be allowed to operate within the nation’s capital.
Wike said, “Most of the Keke Napep and most of the motorcycles are informants. Everybody here that is a beneficiary is being profiled by the security.
“And so what we are coming up with is that from January next year, there will be nobody that will operate as a taxi driver or a bus driver without having approval from security, with security profiling you and without going about with Abuja colour.
“Nothing like using any vehicle on the road. No, we won’t allow that. From January, we won’t allow that.
“We will take the vehicle number, name of the drivers and the rest so everybody will have confidence that this is the vehicle I’m entering in case anything happens.”