Tricycle owners seek partnership with Edo Govt, to stem unemployment

The Edo Chapter of the Tricycle Owners Association of Nigeria (TOAN) is seeking to partner with the State Government to reduce unemployment in the state.

Comrade John Obozokhai, the new state Chairman of TOAN, disclosed this on Friday at the inauguration of its new executive council in Benin.

Obozokai said that the body was development driven and would not engage in any illegal activity.

He said that if the government could provide more tricycles for the association, it would take many youths from the streets and engage them meaningfully.

The TOAN chairman added that the association does not get involved in revenue collection, but survives on dues from its members.

Obozokhai said that the association was the only legal tricycle body affiliated to the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in the country, adding that any other tricycle body was illegal.

According to Obozokhai, “This association is an umbrella under the TUC and is the only legal body empowered by the Federal Government to cater for the welfare of tricycle owners in Nigeria.

Any other tricycle association is illegal, he stressed.

“I assure you that we are ready to cooperate with Gov Godwin Obaseki to ensure adequate security in the state.

“We are not criminals. We have a data base of all tricycle riders and any criminal within us will be fished out and handed over to the appropriate security agency.’’

He added that “we will continue to work with the state government for the common good of the people of the state.

“We would also want the state government to partner with us in terms of providing more tricycles, to enable us to be able to take our unemployed youths away from the streets.

On his part, the state Chairman of the TUC, Comrade Ohue Marshal, described TOAN as a disciplined body, committed to the development of the state.

He urged the association to respect constituted authority and feel free to make their problems know through the appropriate channels.

Comrade Marshal said that they should prove themselves to be educated and enlightened, even as tricycle operators.