El-Rufai shuts telecoms services, bans motorbikes in Kaduna
As part of critical measures to tackle the nefarious activities of fleeing bandits in parts of the state, the Kaduna State Government, Wednesday, officially announced the shutdown of telecommunications services in undisclosed locations.
The development may not be unconnected with the security information that fleeing bandits from Katsina, Zamfara, and Sokoto states, where telecommunications services have been shut, now come to Kaduna state to make phone calls.
Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Kaduna State, who stated this in a press briefing, at the Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), in Kaduna, added that all motorcycles (commercial and private) have also been banned for the next three months – all with effect from midnight today.
Governor Nasir El-Rufai had, on a radio chart, Tuesday night, announced that the state government had formally requested the Federal Government to enforce the shutdown of telecom services in parts of the state identified by security agencies as requiring such measures.
In response to that request, the relevant federal agencies had, yesterday, informed the Kaduna State government that the processes for telecoms shutdown in parts of the state had commenced, Aruwan said.
Some of the measures he talked about, in addition to existing ones, include “the complete ban on the use of motorcycles (Okada), for commercial or personal purposes, for three months in the first instance.
Aruwan also expressed the state government’s regrets over the severe strain and inconvenience these measures would place on peaceful law-abiding citizens and appealed for their understanding and cooperation, saying difficult times demand that difficult decisions be taken.
