Bicycles, usually very rare on Jos roads, have surfaced on major
highways due to the recent ban on the use of commercial motorcycles in the city.
The bicycles, in different shapes and sizes, now compete for space along
many highways in the metropolis as residents move about conveying relations and
friends.
Before now the bicycles were only being used mostly by school
children, farmers and junior level workers.
A visit to the Ahmadu Bello
Way and Terminus in central Jos where the bicycles are being sold have also
revealed a rise in their cost.
A used bicycle in the area which usually
sold for between N9 and N10,000 has now risen to between N13,000 and N14,000,
depending on the manufacturing company.
At Nasarawa Gwom and Katako
however a new bicycle went for N13,000 as against the old price of N10,000.
Mr Jerry Gwani, a carpenter said he abandoned his bicycle three years
ago when he bought a motorcycle.
``I stopped using my bicycle when I
bought a motorcycle, but with the ban, I have returned to it since it is not
banned.
``Usually it is the children that use it to run errands but I am
back to it now,’’ he said.
Pics:Africamedia
A school girl, Anastasia Augustine, said that
she had resorted to the bicycle because her father could no more convey her to
school on his motor cycle.
``My father attempted to use it at the
weekend but his motorcycle was almost seized. He told them he was not into
commercial business but they said he would need to register and get a special
permit,’’ she said.
The Plateau Government had banned the operations of
commercial motorcyclists last week, two years after the first attempt resulted
into riots in the city.
The Police Commissioner in the state, Emmanuel
Ayeni, had on Friday in Jos told journalists that the ban was a total success
and thanked members of the public for their cooperation.
Similarly, the
Commissioner for Information, Yiljap Abraham, also described the ban as a huge
success and said it was imposed to de-congest the roads and minimise threats to
security.
- NAN
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