‘Every FCT Minister must now have his own taxi color’
Taxi operators in the nation’s capital, Abuja, should be ready to get fresh paint job if they must continue to ply the city routes, says Minister of Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Bar. Nyisom Wike.
This is an addition to other measures that most commuter drivers feel is way off their means as it were .
taxi drivers didn’t find these directives pleasant. They are likely going to find the recent plan on repainting work pleasing because such measures involves money.
Wike made the new measures known on Wednesday after a strategic meeting with traditional rulers and local council chairmen over rising insecurity in the nation’s capital.
el-Rufai’s London taxi, 2004-2007
According to the minister, the new measure is meant to curb robbery incidents usually ‘called one chance’.
“We won’t allow taxis that are not painted in our colors to operate so that this issue of one chance can be eliminated,” the minister said.
But the new measure may not go down well with operators in this subsector.
“So every FCT Minister must now have his own taxi colour,” said utterly bemused commercial driver in Abuja spoken to by DDM on Wednesday.
He was making a caustic remark to what now appears to be a tradition in Abuja where every FCT minister introduces one taxi scheme or the other, almost always with a change of coloring to the favored vehicle.
…Bala Mohammed’s legacy taxis
From time, Abuja’s taxis have been green with white thin stripes by the side.
Nasir El Rufai though largely left it unchanged, introduced the black ‘London taxis’ to ply mostly highbrow areas of the FCT.
Bala Mohammed was the next to change taxi colors. It was the blue and yellow special scheme taxis.
Wike now insists he must have a color change.