Transporters Count Losses Over Aba Kidnap Saga

The spate of kidnapping of innocent citizens in and around Aba, Abia State, by unknown gunmen has negatively affected transportation business between Port Harcourt and Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State.

The slack in transportation business persist inspite of the invasion by the Joint Military Task Force in Ukwa West local government area of Abia State and Eberi Omuma in Rivers State.                      The move is to tame the excesses of the criminals and to bring sanity to the polity as well as save lives and properties of the people.

Speaking to The Tide during an interview on Saturday in Port Harcourt, a commercial motor driver, who shuttles Aba-Port Harcourt route regularly, Mr. Obialor Nwafor, said the high rate of kidnapping along the route in recent times has scared people from travelling either to purchase their wares or for pleasure. This he said, has drastically reduced the human and vehicular traffic along the route, thereby affecting the number of trips drivers make in a day.

He maintained that some drivers do not even attempt going to Aba for fear of being kidnapped. They have instead diverted to other routes to make ends meet. He lamented that the trend had caused them great loss of business.

Similarly, commuters are not left out of the fear. A trader in Rumuwoji (Mile One) Market Diobu, Port Harcourt, Mrs. Rosemary Okoro, who deals on baby/female wears, told The Tide that due to the kidnapping in Aba she no longer transports to Aba for her goods but to Onitsha through Elele-Owerri, inspite of the fact that the transport fare is higher and the journey is longer.

She commended the efforts of government towards putting measures in place to nab perpetrators of the act, also praying that transportation system in Aba-Port Harcourt route should come back to normalcy.