Ban on Commercial Motorcycle Operations in Benin City, Nigeria: An Appraisal of the Benefits and Business Opportunities

This paper appraises the socio-economic implications of the ban on commercial motorcycle operations (CMOs) in Benin City, Nigeria. Deriving from the literature review, the paper posits that although CMOs offered a number of benefits to the users, but that they also had negative effects which include the increase in criminal activities such as armed robbery and kidnapping, and phenomenal rise in the number of motor traffic accidents, many of them fatal. Besides, there were strong indications that insurgents were planning to breach the security of the State by leveraging on the activities of CMOs. Therefore to checkmate the security threat and guarantee the safety and security of the populace, the state government banned CMOs in Benin City. The ban subjected many commuters to immense hardship but it has some benefits and it also created potential business opportunities which the paper identifies. Keywords: Ban, Benefits, Business opportunities, Commercial motorcycles, Insurgents, Operations, Security threat