Reps step down motion to halt proposed ban on motorcycles

The House of Representatives has stepped down a motion to call on the Federal Government to halt the proposed ban on motorcycles.

A member from Jigawa State, Abubakar Yalleman, had moved the motion on Tuesday during the plenary at the green chamber of the National Assembly in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

He prayed the House to urge the Federal Government to restrict the ban to local governments where banditry and terrorism were rife.

The lawmaker believes a total ban will negatively affect the well-being and welfare of the common Nigerians if palliative measures are not put in place to ease its effect.

After making his case, the Deputy Speaker of the House, Idris Wase, who presided over the plenary, however, prevailed upon Yalleman to step it down.

He said he appreciated the motion but appealed to the lawmakers to cooperate with the executive arm of government in the fight against insecurity.

On Thursday last week, the National Security Council said it was considering a nationwide ban on motorcycles and mining activities as part of a strategy to curb terrorist activities, checkmate loopholes, and cut off their sources of funding.

According to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, investigations are ongoing, especially to establish the correlation between mining and motorcycles which the government suspects provide funding for the supply of arms to terrorists.

He stated that the criminals had moved from the conventional ways of funding their activities to mining and ransom taking, adding that the government was not unaware of the economic consequences of the proposed resolutions which he said have become imperative to guarantee the nation’s security.

Terrorist groups, especially in Nigeria, are increasingly interested in controlling areas of production of gold.

The opportunistic nature of these activities ties strongly to the fact that gold is often the favoured mineral of the terrorist groups as many of them use it to secure a source of funding for future operations.