Two private companies providing motorcycle services in Lagos State have described as insensitive the decision of the state government to ban motorcycles in 15 council areas of the state.
The companies, MAX and Gokada, said while investments running into millions of dollars would be lost, thousands of people would be jobless.
The firms, while insisting that they were not consulted before the decision was taken, expressed shock that the state could put them in the same group with regular motorcycle riders.
The Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of MAX, Adetayo Bamiduro, during a press briefing at the company’s office at Ikeja on Wednesday said despite making two million trips, the company’s riders had recorded “less than 100 incidents.”
He stressed that less than seven were serious and required hospital visits, adding that till date, the company had zero fatalities.
Bamiduro explained that the company’s motorcycle engines were all 220cc, a 10 per cent increase above the requirement of the Lagos State Transport Sector Reform Law 2018.
He insisted that the company was also paying its taxes to the government as riders paid levies to the National Union of Road Transport Workers as directed by the state.
Bamiduro said reputable international companies, including Novastar Ventures, Alitheia Capital, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Yamaha and MasterCard, had invested a lot of money into the business and would be worried by the government’s decision.
