5th November, 2010
The Keke Owners and Riders Association of Nigeria, (KORAN), has appealed to the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, to check the importation of inferior and substandard tricycles worth ¦ N1,435,500,000 by a company named Autobahn Techniques Limited.
According to KORAN, Autobahn Techniques Limited was contracted by the National Poverty Eradication Programme, NAPEP, to import and supply a 4-stroke good grade metal-made body sheet Paggio brand of tricycles, but what was imported was a low grade fibre-made body sheet ATUL brand of tricycles which has about two months lifespan.
KORAN disclosed that the company has so far supplied 3,190 units out of the expected 5,000 units, but all the tricycles supplied are inferior.
The National President of KORAN, Alhaji Bashiru Akinola said, “the purpose of Keke NAPEP is eradicating poverty but the tricycles supplied by the Autobahn Techniques Limited cannot make that purpose a possibility, rather it is promoting our poverty.â€
The association called on SON to visit all the states in Nigeria where there are tricycles grounded with a view to verifying our claims and also ask Autobahn Techniques Limited to refund KORAN and the generality of the poor masses who have acquired the 3,190 units of the ATUL brand with the sum of N1,435,500,000 (value of the 3,190 units) for the losses and psychological trauma they suffered.
—Adeyera Olubunmi