Total ban on okada will not kill anyone but will provide safer roads while the public will be made to patronise other means of transportation that are safer. People always think it will bring about hardship on general public but the disadvantages outweigh the advantages”. – Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Abuja (2014)
Leadership, of men and materials entails having the clear capacity to understand the contending issues at stake and mustering the political will to take hard decisions and implementing them promptly. The salutary aim of course, is to find lasting solutions to persisting, socio-economic or political challenges, all for the common good. In so doing, the leader, acting in concert with the relevant team of technocrats, critically analyze all the factors at play. These should also include the likely implications on the stakeholders before arriving at the conclusion. But when it has to do with the protection of lives and property, which he solemnly swore to before the public, his action could be more drastic. Indeed, he would likely be driven by seeking enduring good than pandering to the wishes of the critics, or being swayed by the temporary pains of those who may have benefitted from the anomalies being corrected.
It is within this context that one must take a dispassionate look at the recent threat by the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, to enforce a total ban on commercial motorcycles (aka okada) operations in the Lagos metropolis. In fact, not a few public affairs analysts feel this has become necessary, given the recent bloody, inter-ethnic clash in the Ketu-Mile 12 area of the state, ignited by a dispute between an okada operator and a passerby. It led to the loss of lives and property worth millions of naira. That was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. Now, tough choices have to be made on the part of the governor as the chief security officer of the state. Elsewhere, such hard or harsh policy decisions have been taken that have paid off, eventually.
For instance, Lee Kuan Yew, the pragmatic economist who engineered Singapore’s economic miracle, as its Prime Minister between 1959 and 1990 took such hard stance. Without it, he could not have transformed the once unrecognized island, devoid of natural resources to rival the likes of Hong Kong and Manhattan, with solid infrastructures, skyscrapers and alluring tourist attractions. In a similar vein, when in 1974, Sheikh Rashid tasked the young Mohammed with overseeing the growth of Dubai International Airport, hard choices had to be taken to carve out the dream that it has become this day. Some people had to bear the brunt at the beginning of the implementation of the structural changes. Similarly, compelling traffic-related situations as we face in Lagos may inform tougher and more stringent measures, in order to save more lives from being wasted.
It would be recalled, that the immediate past administration of Babatunde Fashola, irked by the menace posed by the okada riders had signed the Lagos Road Traffic Law 2012, on August 2, 2012 which restricts okada operations in at least 492 of the 9,200 roads across the metropolis. It was with the intention of ensuring safety and orderly flow of traffic within the metropolis. But sad to note that some four years after, the problems posed by the okada operators have worsened rather than abate in spite of the restrictions. It is a common sight to find them plying against traffic flow along Pen Cinema-Fagba, Agege-Abule-Egba and the Ketu routes. Some of the operators have been accomplices in series of armed robbery attacks and fatal accidents, with ample evidence when one visits Igbo Orthopedic Hospital, Yaba.
Governor Ambode has convincing reasons therefore, to approach the Lagos State House of Assembly to amend the law from the restriction of okada operations within some routes to total ban of their operations in the state. Indeed, as a stickler for the rule of law, he cannot be comfortable with the flagrant abuse of the law by okada riders, added to reports of some robbery incidents perpetrated with the motorcycles.
Interestingly, similar reasons were adduced by the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) while placing a total ban on commercial motorcycles in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in 2014. According to Mrs. Susan Ajenge, the then FCT Sector Commander of FCT, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the ban of okada within the city centre drastically reduced the rate of accidents in the area. In her words: “Before the ban of okada in the city centre, hospitals and emergency wards were always filled with okada accidents’ victims, same with mortuaries, but this has drastically reduced as result of the ban”.
Though some hard-line critics would vociferously argue that a total ban would be insensitive, given the fact Lagos is the commercial nerve centre of the country, with the seaports and high density population, the long-term advantages should be taken into consideration. A smoother flow of traffic, less accidents and robberies traceable to the operators would be guaranteed. So also would be the reports of police harassment and extortion of okada riders.
In fact, one of the reasons Abuja presents a beautiful vista and instantly attracts a visitor, even at first sight is the easy traffic flow, devoid of okada operators and clustered buildings. Lagos can achieve a similar scenic scenario if laws are amended and enforced. There are other seaport cities or capitals in both the African continent, nay the world that have population issues to that of Lagos but not solved by motorcycle operators. Name them; Cairo, Tunis, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Seoul, Bangkok, Jakarta, Istanbul and Casablanca are some of them which have adopted creative strategies to combat traffic gridlock in the absence of motorcycles.
The position of Governor Ambode that the city could well do without their menacing presence is in tandem with the 21st Century Lagos City Master Plan, currently evolving under his people-friendly administration. With the light-rail project in progress, inner roads receiving the desired attention and increasing emphasis on water-based transport system, what is needed is massive public enlightenment on the immense benefits of Lagos without okada.
There is little doubt that many of the operators would be thrown out of job and suffer some temporary economic setback. But they could seek alternative means of livelihood by keying into the N25 billion Youth Empowerment Scheme of the pragmatic Ambode-led administration. With it, they will be empowered with requisite skills acquisition that would be more enduring than riding motorcycles for commercial purpose.
Those who however, think that taking to crime would be an option should have a rethink. This administration has zero tolerance for all shades of crime and criminality, as violators of laws would only have themselves to blame.
On its part, the government will do well to engage the relevant transport unions of the commercial okada operators in sustained sensitization programmes. All the members could be re-organized into skills cooperative societies. They should have their mindset reoriented towards finding suitable alternatives, with the aim of putting food on their families’ table. The time for the total ban on okada in Lagos is now.
- Baje, a journalist writes from Lagos.
