MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP)  Motorcycle-taxi drivers in Nigeria’s restive northeast say a motorcycle ban implemented as an attempt to curb motorcycle drive-by killings has instead put thousands out of work.
Kaigama Mohammed, the Borno State chairman of the Motorcycle Transport Union of Nigeria, said Friday that about 7,000 drivers are now out of work in the urban centers of Maiduguri and Jere.
The government announced the ban Thursday in an attempt to stop a radical Muslim sect whose signature is motorcycle-mounted attacks. The government says new rickshaws and buses will soon provide alternative jobs.
The sect locally known as Boko Haram wants the strict implementation of Shariah law in Nigeria’s north. The group has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in northern Nigeria.
