Vincent Akanmode
THE outgoing week has been a challenging one for residents of Lagos, the commercial nerve centre of the country. Commuters have had to trek long distances to get to their destinations, following the ban the state government imposed on commercial motorcycles and tricycles, known popularly as okada and keke respectively. Law enforcement agents have had a hectic time reining in okada and keke owners protesting the ban on their sources of livelihood while private vehicle owners have had to battle with unusual traffic snarls resulting from the deployment of additional vehicles by residents who previously depended on okada and keke to go to work or return home.
There is no doubting the fact that a way of life has been disrupted by the new government policy. The violent protests in Ikeja, Ijora, Iyana Ipaja and other parts of the city would therefore not come as a surprise to any discerning mind, knowing that there are few things people detest like change, particularly when their means of livelihood is at stake. The use of motorcycle as a means of transportation is almost as old as the history of technology. It, however, did not grow into a phenomenon until the early 1990s when it dethroned cabs and buses to become the most popular means of transportation in Nigerian cities, towns and villages.
Before then, the yellow cab together with the danfo and molue buses constituted the main means of transportation around the city. The motorcycle would later gain its popularity and subsequent notoriety with the advent of the ‘drop’ mentality whereby taxi drivers preferred to carry lone, well-to-do passengers who can charter their cabs and pay good money as against the previous practice of loading their vehicles with passengers who would pay the normal fares. It was not long before taxi drivers priced their services beyond the reach of the average commuter. Smart motorcycle owners saw the vacuum created by the development and moved in to fill it.
With time, the commercial motorcycle, felicitously christened okada in deference to the most popular indigenous airline at the time, became recognised as the best way to avoid the crawling traffic around the city. Thus it became the bride of the poor and was also embraced by the rich in peculiar circumstances. It even became a tool for political campaign as was witnessed in Ekiti State where a governorship aspirant endeared himself to voters by publicly riding on okada to give the impression he was a man of the people. Of course, he won the election. Whether he acquitted himself as people’s governor, however, remains a matter for debate. What is certain is that another governorship aspirant in Osun State sought to use the same joker for electoral victory but the voters in Osun were not impressed.
Unfortunately, while they are faster than buses, augment or compliment the available means of public transportation and help to preoccupy the army of unemployed youths around the country, commercial motorcycles have in recent years constituted a veritable threat to the nation’s security architecture. This is besides their predisposition to fatal accidents on account of which many lives have been lost and many people have suffered various forms of deformity.
Explaining the reasons for the ban on okada and keke in many parts of the state, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, said: “After a robust assessment of the debate on what has been widely referred to as the motorcycle (okada) and tricycle (keke) menace, the Lagos State Government and the State Security Council have decided that the security and safety of lives of Lagosians are paramount. The figures are scary. From 2016 to 2019, there were over 10,000 accidents recorded at the General Hospitals alone. This number excludes unreported cases and those recorded by other hospitals. The total number of deaths from reported cases is over 600 as at date.
“Also, the rate of crimes aided by okada and keke keeps rising. They are also used as getaway means by criminals. Therefore, after consultations with stakeholders, the State Security Council, in compliance with the extant Transport Sector Reform Law 2018, has decided to commence enforcement of the law which bans the operation of okada and keke in six Local Government Areas (LGAs) and nine Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs).”
In one of the stories published in this paper today, an okada rider of northern extraction admitted in an interview with one of our reporters that his movement from Gombe State to Lagos, and those of many other youths from different parts of the north, were sponsored by a particular man from the north. This coming amid rumours that the deadly Boko Haram sect might be using the army of northern okada riders in Lagos as a façade to unleash an attack on the city should be a cause for serious concern.
Sometime around September last year, men of the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Lagos were said to have arrested a profiled Boko Haram member who had escaped from Yobe at the Ahmadiyya section of Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway while operating as an okada rider. In fact, security agents were said to have first trailed him to Ajah part of Lagos before he escaped to the mainland where he was eventually arrested.
Only on Thursday, the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, revealed how an attempt made to bomb Lagos while he held sway as governor in 2013 was foiled by security agents who acted on a tip from well-meaning citizens. Fashola, who spoke while delivering a lecture at the fourth annual public lecture of the United Action for Change (UAC) in Lagos, said the security agents intercepted 17 suitcases loaded with explosives, which were smuggled into the state to wreak havoc.
The Minister of Transportation, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi also recalled that his government had to impose a ban on keke and okada during his time as the governor of Rivers State between 2007 and 2015 because criminals were using them to rob and kidnap people. Amaechi, who spoke during a Channels TV breakfast programme, said: “Speaking as a former governor, when I was in Rivers State, they were using motorcycles to rob and kidnap people; and the police could never get them because they were using cars; so I banned motorcycles and we had peace. The number of accidents was also high – the orthopaedic hospital was full every day.”
Certainly, there is no point indulging a practice that puts the lives of an entire population in clear and present danger. I told a colleague long before Fashola became the governor of Lagos State that there were three menaces any serious government in the state must address, namely the menace of Oshodi, the menace of okada riders and the menace of danfo drivers. With Fashola government able to conquer Oshodi after a relentless battle and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu successfully imposing a ban on okada, the state has the menace of danfo buses left to contend with.
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