Oyo State Government has given a 14-days ultimatum to operators of commercial motorcycles, tricycles and cars, to paint their vehicles to the commercial colours of the state or risk arrest.
The ultimatum was given by the Chairman, Oyo State Transport and Road Management Authority (OYTRMA), Mogaji Akin Fagbemi, on Monday when he met with strategic stakeholders, in the transport business in his Agodi office.
According to the OYTRMA boss, the law stipulating the commercial colours for transporters in the state has been in existence for a long time, adding that his agency is also empowered by the same law to enforce the law.
He gave the colours to include brown and yellow for all commercial operators in the state, saying apart from identification purpose, using the colour by commercial operators will help in tackling the issue of insecurity in the state.
He said, “I want to bring to our notice that there is a part of law in the state, which we have not been following and it is important to enforce it, considering the security situations and outcries of our people. We have observed that we have seen a lot of Micra now that are not painted in commercial colours of the state. We have seen some tricycles that are not painted in commercial colours of the state.
“We have also noticed we cannot differentiate between okada that is being used for commercial and the one that is being used for private. We cannot even differentiate the ones being used for robbery and kidnapping.
“But the law, which is not new, stipulates that all okada, from now on and I am giving them two weeks. They must be painted in commercial colours of Oyo State. If your okada and tricycles are commercial, they must be painted in the commercial colours of the state. It will go a long way in the area of identification. It will also help to control the influx of those who are not part of us. We can easily identify them.
“This laws are not new ones. They are laws that have been in existence and the problem is the enforcement, which we want to start now. We are going to give them a grace of 14 days. Now, we want to enforce it, such that it will help us to know those tricycles, motorcycles and the micra that are meant for the state. Those ones that are not for the State, we will identify them and we know how to sort them out.”