The President of Painted Abuja Taxi, Comrade Shehu Shugaba Yar’Adua, has revealed that Uber, Taxify and Bolt are illegal operators in FCT as their operations are not recognized by the Transport Secretariat of FCT, Abuja.

In an exclusive chat in his office at Wuse , Abuja, Comrade Yar’Adua made the disclosure when he was talking about the problems his association is having. The major problem of his association he said is the activities of unlicensed cab operators in the FCT, which he said has made it difficult for the association to track down bad elements in the system. The bad elements, according to him are one-chance criminals who use unpainted vehicles to perpetrate evil acts. 

He labelled the activities of Uber, Taxify, and Bolt in his words thus; “As far as I am concerned, Uber, Taxify, Bolt, their operations are not known in the FCT because government does not recognize their operations. They are illegal operators”.

Comrade Yar’Adua says that as these operators are not registered with FCT Transport Secretariat, any time their drivers go around Painted Abuja Taxi area to pick passenger, their vehicle will be impounded and handed over to VIO or the police for them to do the right thing. He captures it thus; “So, Uber, Taxify, Bolt, their operations are not known to us. If they come to our place to pick passenger, we will impound their vehicle and hand them over to the police or the VIO so that they will do the right thing”.

Comrade Yar’Adua says that there are five associations registered by the Transport Secretariat of FCT to operate taxi service in the FCT. They are Painted Abuja Taxi, which he is their President; NURTW; SECDAA; RTEAN and another one.

When asked about the Brekete Family Taxi, he said they withdrew their vehicles from his association, after partnering with them for eleven years, and told them that Brekete Family Taxi has been granted license by FCT. 

This has put the number of licensed cab operators in FCT to six, according to Comrade Yar’Adua.

He further said that the essence of issuing license to operators of taxi services in FCT is to check the activities of one-chance drivers (especially) who hide under the guise of being cab operators to commit crimes. He also said that every licensed operator has a specific color for their taxis with identification number by the door of the vehicle. 

The licensing and regulation of the sector, according to him, has reduced crimes associated with taxi operators drastically in the FCT.