The Changing Nature of Intra-City Transportation in Sokoto Metropolis: A Case Study of Motorcycle (Kabu-Kabu) Hire Purchase
- March 2, 2022
- Posted by: rsispostadmin
- Categories: Economics, IJRISS, Social Science
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume VI, Issue II, February 2022 | ISSN 2454–6186
Umar Muhammad Gummi1, Dr. Maria Abdullahi2, Dr. Murtala Marafa3
1,2Department of Economics, Sokoto State University, Sokoto, Nigeria,
3Department of History, Sokoto State University, Sokoto, Nigeria,
Abstract: Intra-city transportation system is an indispensible means of movement of persons and their goods within the city. In Sokoto metropolis, it has contributed and still contributing to the development of the socio-economic activities of the people. Motorcycle or Kabu-kabu is one of the means of intra-city transport within the metropolis. The role of commercial motorcycle (kabu-kabu) in Sokoto metropolis is to compliment the services of other Para-transit modes of transport such as tricycles and buses, in moving passengers and goods from one point to another. It is noteworthy that despite its limitation, Kabu-kabu has come to stay as a viable mode of transport in the metropolis. This became so because it is a means of employment opportunities by a good number of youths who had formal education. The upsurge in the fleet of commercial motorcycles in the metropolis is a clear testimony of the increasing demands for this mode of public transport as well as the employment opportunities it has brought to the teeming youths in the metropolis. The study concluded that the contribution of this mode of intra-city transportation (kabu-kabu) to the development of the metropolis social, economically and politically cannot be overemphasized.
I.INTRODUCTION
Intra-city transportation is another means of road transportation which has significantly contributed to the growth and development of the metropolis economically, socially and politically. The earliest means of intra-city movement in Sokoto are taxi cabs that started operating in the early 1980s and this followed by local government mass transit introduced in the early 1990s. Other means of intra-city movement are motorcycles that start featuring in the late 1980s and thereafter tricycles that since the year 2000 start becoming the most predominant in the metropolis. In an attempt to examine intra-city means of commuting, the paper treats the development of each of the means of transportation. And in the final analysis, the paper argues that the economic contribution of these means of transportation i.e., taxicab, mass transit, motorcycles and tricycles cannot be overemphasized, because they alleviated and still alleviating not only the youth unemployment, but also the middle cadre civil servants (who engaged in intra-city transport with their personal vehicles) whose monthly take home pay cannot be able to take care of them and their immediate family.
