It was sometime in 1989 and the defunct Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructure (DFRRI) was having a workshop in Bauchi State. Participants were expected from all parts of the country. Those of us coming from Lagos gathered at the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Ikeja, as directed, for our flight to Jos enroute Bauchi. Getting to board our flight was a fight as it was in the days of the almighty Nigeria Airways, the nation’s sole carrier then. At intervals, following announcements, we rushed to board flights going our way as we used to rush for that contraption calledmolue, the once-upon-a-time popular commercial bus in Lagos
There was chaos at the airport that day because hundreds of us – university teachers, members of the diplomatic corps, military personnel, captains of commerce and media men, among others – were going to Bauchi, but there were no flights. We eventually left the airport around 5pm. On arrival in Jos, the Plateau State capital, we were conveyed by buses to Bauchi, which is about 40 minutes drive from the Tin City. In Bauchi, Gbenga Ayeni, then of West Africa Magazine, Kudo Eresia-Eke, then of Sunray, and I struck a bond as we explored the town together. Since Jos, Bauchi and Gombe are coterminous, we moved from one town to the other. And our means of transportation was motorcycle.
It was in Bauchi that I first saw motorcycle being used as means of transportation. And as young reporters then, Gbenga, Kudo and I had fun riding on achaba, as motorcycle is called in the North, to our destinations. Whether going to Zaranda Hotel, where the workshop was held, or to Awalah Hotel, where we lodged, we enjoyed taking the achaba as the operators were stationed in strategic corners of the town, waiting for passengers. To us, it was strange seeing motorcycles being used as commercial buses, so to say, because in Lagos we were used to danfo and molue.
Years later, the achaba landed in Lagos, but under a different name, okada. The coming of okada changed the face of transportation in Lagos. From the remote and innermost parts of the metropolis, where commercial motorcyclists started their operation, they found their way into the heart of the city, competing with motorists on the highway. Since okada became means of transportation in Lagos, though illegally, things have not been the same in the megacity. With it came a steep rise in crime, fatal accidents and frequent clashes between okada riders and other road users. Okada riders see themselves as lords of the road. They fight for the right of way with motorists; take one way; jump traffic light and ride without helmet.
Okada is not recognised as means of transportation in any part of the world because it is not safe to use. Yet, we have people who take okada from Ikotun, one end of the city to Lekki, another end of the metropolis, because, according to them, ‘’we are in a hurry’’. In a hurry, on a machine without any safety measure with the passenger exposed to the element! Though okada business may be thriving , that should not be the reason for retaining what has become the major cause of crises in the state? Moreover, it adds no value to the economy. To check the excesses of okada riders, former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola restricted their operation to 492 of the 9200 roads in the state.
They are complying with the restriction in the breach. Up till today, there is no part of the road where you do not find okada despite the restrictions contained in the Lagos Road Traffic Law 2012. For how long will we tolerate the crudity and lawlessness of okada riders? It is high time the traffic law 2012 was reviewed to ban okada operation in the state.
The buck stops on Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s desk to decide the fate of okada. It has become urgent for his administration to do something about okada operators before they turn the state upside down with their violent streak. Okada riders operate on short fuse. Whenever there is trouble on the road or in a market, look well, an okada rider will be at the centre of it. No administration will watch and allow a bunch of people to throw its state into anarchy. This is what okada riders are trying to do in Lagos, if they are not stopped now. It is where there is no law that offences are not committed.
Lagos State has laws; so why should okada riders break them at will and go scot-free? Their operations have been restricted, yet they keep operating as if they have the freedom to run around in every part of the state. If restriction cannot stop them, a ban will surely do the magic so that we do not witness again the kind of incident that happened at Agiliti near Mile 12 about two weeks ago. What happened in Mile 12 on March 3 was uncalled for and that was not the first time okada men would behave like that.
An okada man hit a woman and his refusal to take her to hospital led to a riot. The okadaman is Hausa and the woman, a Yoruba. In the twinkling of an eye, the story had changed to Hausa fighting Yoruba. Injustice is injustice anywhere; it has no colour, religion or region. What the okada man will not accept was what he wanted to do to his victim. Some of us would have been witnesses to how they block the road over minor accidents involving their colleagues, harassing the ‘offending’ motorist and other road users. We have also seen how okada is used to rob in traffic, banks and other places.
What good does okada serve? None; whatsoever. Its patrons may say it eases their movement, but should that be at the expense of the larger society, which is at risk of its operation? There is nothing good about okada. Many of the riders use their okada to rob, kill and kidnap and they want the government to look the other way. No serious government, which has the public interest at heart, will do that. What is more, many orthopaedic hospitals are full of victims of okada accidents. It is not a business to invest in.
Thank God, Ambode has created Office of Job and Wealth Creation. Okada operators can approach the agency and see how they can fit into its programmes because whether they like it or not, the days of okada riding are numbered. It may be a hard decision for the governor to take but history will remember him if he takes it because it will be in the overall interest of this megacity. Heavens will not fall if okada is banned and the public will surely find alternative means of movement after its abolition.
To ban okada is a task that must be done and the House of Assembly must be prepared to play its role in amending the traffic law 2012 to make commercial motorcycling illegal in the state. By so doing, it will be helping Ambode in pushing forth his mantra : itesiwaju ipinle ilu Eko lo jewa logun. Yes, the progress of Lagos should be the desire of its true residents, no matter where they come from.
