El-Rufai blocks telco services, bans motorcycles in Kaduna to fight bandits

Telecommunication services have been shut down in parts of Kaduna State as part of new measures to fight banditry in the state.

Parts of Kaduna affected by the telecommunications ban were not made public at a media briefing held by the Commissioner for Internal Security of Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, who announced other new measures at a media briefing on Wednesday, September 29, 2021.

Also effective from September 30, the state government banned the use of motorcycles, both for commercial and personal purposes, for three months.

All vehicles used for commercial transportation, including ride hailing cars for Uber and Bolt, are to be painted in yellow and black within 30 days.

Tricycles are allowed to operate only between 6 am and 7 pm, and the government emphasised a ban on possession of or wielding of dangerous weapons.

The sale of petrol in jerry cans or other containers has also been banned in Birnin Gwari, Giwa, Igabi, Chikun, Kachia, Kagarko and Kajuru LGAs.

Aruwan said the new measures "are in the interest of our collective safety and security, and to aid security agencies fighting criminals."

The commissioner said the inconvenience is regretted, but the hardship is expected to be temporary.

"Too many lives have been lost, and too many families have been shattered.

"Small groups of wicked persons cannot continue to hold us to ransom, and force us to live in perpetual fear," he said.

Kaduna is one of the worst affected by banditry and violent attacks in the northern region, with 1,482 people killed and 3,695 kidnapped between January 2020 and June 2021, according to the government's own records.