Kidnapping: NURTW wants illegal motor parks banned in Nasarawa

Nasarawa State chapter of Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has called on the state government to ban all illegal motor parks existing in the state, with a view to checkmating incessant kidnappings.

The state chairman, Mohammadu Maikwariya, made the call yesterday, while briefing newsmen in Lafia.He lamented the dangers of illegal motor parks springing up in the state capital, Lafia, and other places, despite the provision of a centralised motor park constructed by the current administration.

The union leader expressed fear that some motor parks are breeding criminal elements and promoting criminalities in the state. He said: “I am calling on the state government, through the Nasarawa Urban Development Board (NUDB), to ban any illegal motor park in the state, apart from the approved ones. We, the NURTW officials, agree that all branches of motor parks should be collapsed into one modern central park as directed by the state government. This is to help us monitor criminal elements that use commercial vehicles to perpetrate kidnapping.”

Maikwariya said the safety of passengers is a priority for NURTW in the state, and that the union is working assiduously to put an end to picking of passengers along the roads. According to him, this creates avenues for innocent people to get kidnapped and robbed.

He commended the administration of Governor Abdullahi Sule for constructing the International Motor Park in Karu Local Council and the Yahaya Sabo Modern Bus terminal in the state capital, noting that the development has generated lots of employment opportunities for residents.Maikwariya also urged residents to board vehicles from approved motor parks to avoid getting kidnapped or robbed.