The table has since turned for operators of commercial motorcycles or okada in the nation’s capital.
They once roamed freely in every part of the city, cornering a handsome slice of the market from taxi drivers and operators of three-wheel vehicles, also called Keke Napep.
Most people loved them, even the car owners, because they would take you just about anywhere you pleased if you paid the right fee. They reigned almost supreme.
That freedom soon came to an end, thanks to the El-Rufai administration which pushed them further away from the town and city centre.
Now, things are worse. They are even pushed further out, being vehemently restricted from such parts of the city as Wuse, the city centre, Maitama, Gwarimpa, Garki, among others places. It must be said, though, that in some of such places Keke Napep is allowed while other places are strictly left for taxi cabs.
Their operations are mostly restricted to the outskirts, allowed to ply inside the areas and not on the highways. Their best areas are Nyanya, Maraba, Masaka, Dei-Dei, Zuba where a weak-hearted passenger will be frightened by how they dangerously manoeuvre their way between vehicles.
Okada is restricted in Jahi district as well as Arab Road junctions of Kubwa. Any operators caught in these areas will be in serious trouble.
The truth is that okada is the only saving grace for residents who do not own vehicles because most of the districts and satellite towns in Abuja are so vast that no one person can walk from one end to the other without seriously hurting themselves. Also, most of the roads are so bad that Keke Napep will find it difficult plying them.
With the level of unemployment in the country, hundreds of young people, with no formal training or education migrate to Abuja from different states and most who are unable to get find manual jobs, become okada riders in order to provide their daily bread and meet their family needs.
Josaih Musa, an indigene of Kaduna State, told The Nation that he was involved in the same job in Kaduna until relocating to Abuja about three months ago. As one of the okada riders operating in Dei-Dei, he explained that although he is still new to the city and still mostly limited to the building material route in Dei-Dei, he enjoys his business because it means that he can provide for himself and not be a burden to anyone.
The father of four children explained that he left his family behind in Kaduna to come to Abuja to provide for them using his okada since he is not educated or skilled.
Musa explained that the only problem with their job is the way police and VIO (vehicle inspection officers) continuously frustrate their efforts by seizing their bikes and constantly asking for bribe.
Sambo Haliru, dark, slim and in his 20s, who operates within the Kubwa axis, willingly explained to our correspondent that work usually starts for him as early as 5am and he hardly ever returns home before 10pm.
He explains that the job is very taxing and not for older men because of the stress involved.
On a good day he explained, a hard-working okada man makes between two to three thousand naira canvassing all over Kubwa and remits about N750 daily to the owner of the motorcycle but it does not amount to much since they have to provide their daily bread and still send money home to their wives and children. Most of them sleep in clustered unhygienic shacks, sheds or one-room apartments with so many occupants that sometimes you may not know who will be sleeping next to you.
Haliru explained that the crowd means different characters and sometimes, if one is not careful, another occupant may steal all your money. He explained that the person who always sleeps next to him recently had all his savings taken from him even though he had hidden it in an inner short before putting on his jean and wore a belt when going to bed.
Passengers as well can be thieves, he said, some finding their ways into the pockets of okada men and steal all the money they have made while others simply ask to be taken to lonely corners and steal their money and bikes.
He insisted that if he could afford a trade, even if little, he will give up the okada business because it is not the best job; it is very stressful and interfers with his religious practices. According to him, a typical okada rider who wants to make money sometimes gets so engrossed in the job that he forgets to pray which does not help with spiritual growth.
It is not all that bad, he admitted, saying, they make more money during the ember months (September –December) because most of them would have travelled back to their villages to plant crops like corn, guinea corn, etc, and so the rest of them left will not have much competitions with the available passengers, which will mean more money for those that instead stay behind.
Haliru said that unlike Dei-Dei and Zuba were okada riders have a union, Kubwa for the past year has been without a union which is caused by the high level of okada riders migrating into town and setting up shop in Kubwa. A certain group of new comers, he explained, have formed an alliance and oppose every idea about a union even though all Kubwa okada riders had agreed with the assistance of the police of the polices that will form the new union.
That certainly has worsened the life and business of the okada man in Abuja.
