MY MISSION IS TO SANITIZE ONITSHA, NOT MONEY — ARTMA MD

Awka: Obiorah Anthony Ugwonwa

The Managing Director, Anambra Road Traffic Management Agency (ARTMA), Mr. Emeka Okonkwo, has reiterated his determination to rid Onitsha and environs of materials, vehicular and human activities obstructions in line with Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo’s clean and sustenable environment policy in the State.

The ARTMA boss, who was speaking at a one day meeting organized for keke riders in Onitsha and environs by the Anambra State Chapter Chairman, Association of Keke Owners and Riders of Nigeria, Mr. Michael Onyekwena, at the National Headquarters of People’s Club of Nigeria, Owerri-Onitsha Road, appreciated the mammoth crowd that graced the event.

He stated that his mission was to join forces with Governor Soludo in sanitizing Onitsha and environs, but not to make money, informing Ndi-Anambra that the issues of touting, crimes and criminalites in the keke and bus industries in the state have reduced drastically in the major cities across the State because of the proactive performances of the Agency in the state.

He stated that most of the problems keke riders in the state are having were that they do not attend meetings like this one and wanted to ascertain from the participants whether the ad -hoc staff of the Agency had continued to impound their keke at the Star- Sunny end of the Upper-Iweka, which he said was a service lane, not the main road.

He made it very clear in the course of the meeting that the instruction from the Agency was that the ad-hoc staff of the Agency should stop arresting the keke riders on the Star-Suuny end of the Upper-Iweka and advised the participants to insist on going to office whenever they are arrested in the area, especially when they are on their rights.

The ARTMA Managing Director, who told the ad-staff of the Agency that they are liable to pay five thousand naira to any keke rider they impounded wrongly without clear video envidence for time wasted, also adivsed the participants to form the habit of attending meetings with a view to be deeply acquainted with the programmes and activities of the Agency.

He stressed that he had not seen any of the Keke riders who appreciated the Agency for total decongestion of Onitsha, Upper- Iweka to be precise, affirming that he had tried as much as he could in protecting the interests of the keke riders in the state.

The ARTMA Head, who opined that the keke riders in the state have been paying the state a huge amount of money as Internally Generated Revenue, assured them that he bears their interest at heart and asked some of them who do not have an Android phone to do so urgently for easy access to accurate and liable information.

Mr. Okonkwo, who called on the keke riders in the area to always do the right thing, equally told them that the Agency is working twenty-four hours everyday with a view to get the state rid of keke-related crimes and criminals.

Speaking earlier, Mr. Onyekwena, described his association as a group of people who come together to be protected, but regretted that some people among them were reported to have said that they did not want to belong to the association, rather they would be operating on their own without keen regard to government decisions.

He made it very clear that the issue of the twenty-five thousand naira for installation of tracking device on every keke in Anambra state was not from Comrade Osita Obi, but from Anambra state government and warned those who are laying false acquisition against him to withdraw their statement forthwith.

“Comrade Osita Obi came into the keke system because of the illegalities in the industry in the state, especially when some of the keke riders in the state met him to help them out,” he added.

He further noted that the recent crisis rocking the keke industry today in Anambra state, started when they were told to be paying fifteen thousand naira daily by government instead of the three hundred and fifty naira they were paying on daily basis.

He affirmed that the essence of installing the tracking device on every keke in Anambra state is for easy collection of IGR from the keke riders by government and easy tracking of any stolen keke anywhere in the State.

He said that they have not concluded on the issue of the tracking device with the Anambra state government, adding that the problem that they are having today was the lack of effective and functional Union in the state, assuring the riders that with TOWAN as the umbrella body of the Union in Anambra state they can achieve a lot in the keke industry.

In their separate speeches, the Divisional Traffic Officer in Awada Divisional Police Headquarters, Obosi, Mr. Ferdinard Ngaramara Emenike and the Public Relations Officer, Wilson Consult Associate Limited in collaboration with the Anambra State Federal Road Safety Command, Awka, Mr. Nnamdi Ugochukwu, advised the participants to say no to hard drugs while on duty and as well put the tracking device on their keke as proscribed by Anambra state government for easy recovery when stolen.

From him, the Branch Co- ordinator of the Agency in Onitsha-Owerri Road, Mr. Nnamdi Obumse, said that the reason behind the meeting was for the participants to see themselves and discuss about their welfare and that of the Union in Anambra State.

Mr. Obumse, who further noted that the essence of the meeting was for them to make their voice heard in the society, stated that the Union had suffered enough in Anambra state, saying with full assurances that they have not benefited anything from the Anambra State Government like their counterparts in Delta state.

“Our counterparts in Delta state pay only government approved permit while in Anambra state we pay the same thing with the heavy duty vehicle operators in the state”, he emphasized.

He pointed out that the forces chasing the keke riders in the state today are too much, ranging from the police, ARTMA and the Navy officers in the area, appealing to the leadership of the Agency to urgently come to their aid.

Some of the Keke riders who spoke during the question and answer session of the event, Mr. Abimbola Moses, Uchenna Onyebuchi, Chukwuemeka Ezeibe and Miss Uchechi Glad, a female tricyclist, enumerated their challenges in the area to include unlawful impoundment of their keke, incessant extortion, unnecessary embarrassment and intimidation by the ad -hoc staff of the Agency in the area.

They, however, pleaded with the Anambra State Command of the Road Safety Corps to assist them in acquiring genuine driving licence so that the ad-hoc staff of the ARTMA in the area should stop embarrassing them unnecessarily.