Transport union executives and operators in Kwara State have called on the Federal Government to look into the skyrocketing price of buying tricycles.

Speaking during the inauguration of a tricycle assembling and service plant in Offa, Offa Local Government Area of the state on Tuesday, the transporters said that the increasing price of tricycles is discouraging many youths from the investment.

The former national chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and 

Deputy President, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Alhaji Najeem Yasin, the state chairman of the Tricycle Owners Association of Nigeria (TOAN), Alhaji Saliu Gidado, and the state chairman of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Alhaji Olayinka Onikijipa, who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune at the event, said that many Nigerian youths are involved in tricycle business.

“I want the Federal Government to do something about the skyrocketing price of tricycles. It was too expensive. I started tricycle operation when it was N250,000. Tricycle machine is now N1.1 million. So, I want the Federal Government to do something about the soaring cost so that people, especially youth can derive benefits from operating it,” Yasin said.

“As you can see in the tricycle business, we have over 90 percent of the nation's youth in the tricycle business. Imagine if those youth are not engaged in the tricycle business, where would they go? The business accommodates so many youths. Government should do something in that regard to cushion the effect of the price”, he added.

In his remarks, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq on Community Intervention, Kayode Oyin-Zubair, said that the project is a public-private partnership (PPP) endeavor.

He also said that Kwara people especially residents of Offa stand to gain a lot from the project.

Mr. Oyin-Zubair said that a private investor contributed a sum of N38 million to the project.

“The project has even started to facilitate job opportunities for our youths. We have already taken delivery of 11 units of tricycles. Going forward, there is also room for salesmen and agents. The benefits inherent in this establishment cannot be exhausted.

“The state government through another collaboration last year provided a sum of N100 million for the purchase of 100 tricycles TOAN members in the state.

“The intervention was the basis for the state to negotiate for this current project we are commissioning.

“An investor, who was convinced that the project is worthwhile provided a sum of N38 million and the project was completed in less than three months,” he said.