Barring unpainted taxis and buses from Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), as insinuated by the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, would not be the appropriate response to the problem of ‘one chance’ in the nation’s capital.

Development Diaries reports that the minister, while addressing journalists in Abuja on Monday, explained that the move was to end the trend of ‘one chance‘, which involves criminals posing as taxi drivers to rob, assault, and sometimes murder their passengers.

‘We are not going to allow vehicles that are not painted with FCT colour and registered by the FCTA to ply commercial in the territory’, he said.

‘That way, you know the driver is certified by the FCT, and the buses and the taxes were also approved by the FCT. When this is done, you, as the passenger, will not take the risk of going into any vehicle that you don’t even know’.

The minister should instead see this problem as an opportunity to address the challenge of mass transit system in the capital, not barring unregistered vehicles, as criminals also use them.

In November 2023, Wike announced that the FCT administration had concluded plans to roll out new buses and taxis for public transportation in Abuja to address the problem of ‘one chance’ operators in the FCT.

Two months down the line, no update has been heard concerning the ‘concluded’ plans.

In 2014, the Bala Mohammed-led FCTA introduced more than 100 high-capacity buses to supplement the El-Rufai buses that were already in service and covering the routes of the satellite towns.

Ten years later, the majority of the high-capacity buses have vanished from all routes to satellite towns, including those that connect with city centres. In fact, some of the buses are parked at the Karu yard, and the majority are in the FCTA yard along Kubwa.

Development Diaries calls on Wike to deliver on his promise by working towards reviving mass transportation for the residents of the FCT as a measure to tackle the ‘one chance’ menace.

Photo source: FCTA