The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Okada

  • Asaba: Beautiful without ‘Okada’

    Asaba: Beautiful without ‘Okada’

    Asaba, the capital city of Delta State always amazes me. I don’t know whether to say that it is a city that is often on the threshold of history or a city that attracts history to itself. Whichever one it is, Asaba sits in a vintage place where it enjoys the cynosure of activities not only from Niger Deltans but Igbos across the Niger. For Asaba, its major beauty and attractive tendency lies basically on that well-known handshake across the Niger, a handshake that breeds good neighbourliness, love and peace.

    But that is even besides the point here now. I hadn’t been to this wonderful city in the past couple of months. When I arrived there a few days ago to board a bus back to Lagos, the sparkling cleanliness and the orderliness of the town stunned me to my marrow. For many years, Asaba had been a place I held so dear to my heart. Due to a nasty experience I had in the hands of thugs and motor park touts when I was in the university many years ago, I never bothered to stop over at Upper Iweka section of Onitsha, Anambra State to board a bus to Lagos. For me Upper Iweka is a no-go area, a nightmare, a total contrast to the peaceful orderliness of Asaba.

    So, as usual on Sunday, the 25th of last month I headed to Asaba from Onitsha for an onward journey to Lagos. As soon as I arrived Asaba, two issues, very basic ones at that, quickly arrested my attention. One, I immediately noticed that there were no Okadas (Motor bikes) plying the roads. Second, I noticed that there were a lot of Keke NAPEP (Tricycles) stationed at different road junctions in the city.

    I was a bit taken aback when I asked and was told that I couldn’t enjoy a quick ride on a motorbike from that end of Ogbo-ogologo to Ibusa junction by Asaba – Benin Expressway. Traditionally I love to ply on Okada because it is easier and faster to get to my destination. Secondly I don’t usually need any protocol to make it happen. And so for me Okada is it especially at the point of emergency.

    So you can imagine how disorganized and perplexed I was on that early Sunday morning. However, the truth is that the ban on Okada has made Asaba more dignifying. Orderliness is the second nature of the town now. There is total respect for pedestrians and for human lives. People stroll and trek without fear of being run over by Okada. The level of decorum and decency in the city truly brought me back to my undue ‘love’ for Okada. For me then and even now, Okada constitutes evil; it belongs to the past as far as city transportation is concerned.

    Here is a city thriving now on good organization, good transport system which makes a total mockery of why we even degenerated to the level of allowing Okada to operate in the first place. What is the essence of Okada in a place like Asaba where there is plenty net work of good roads? Now with the introduction of Keke NAPEP, movement has completely become more secured, more assured and more pleasantly enjoyable.

    As I stood there pondering over what to do, a good Samaritan, for Asaba has a dose of such people, strolled over to me to find out what was amiss. After I told him my dilemma, he beckoned on me to follow him. At the junction not too far from the spot, he pointed to a Keke NAPEP park opposite. “They’ll solve your problem over there,” he said gently and then took his leave. With this, I was again reassured.

    With just N200, I boarded one Keke to the Ibusa highway junction to get a bus to Lagos. For me, it was the best form of picking a taxi drop. My interaction with the Keke NAPEP Operator was also instructive. Not only that the guy, who gave his name simply as Ikenna, is a native of Ogbunike, in Anambra State, he was equally more relaxed driving his Keke gently than being on the fast lane for which Okada is known.

    “My brother,” he said to me in the course of our conversation, “it is good to do what I am doing now. Okada is no good. In fact let’s give kudos to Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan whose love for the lives of the people first informed his decision to ban Okada,” Ikenna squirmed.

    He admitted that when the ban was first made, they almost went mad with anger. Everybody said it would not work. People kicked against it. Even some called the governor names, saying he was against the people. But it is a different story today. Asaba is cool, like a maiden on the threshold of her wedding. The city bubbles with clean smell and fresh coziness. You can’t take it away from Governor Uduaghan, a thorough-bred medical doctor who understands the ugliness of the Okada menace and how they have rendered a lot of people dead, legless, lifeless, handless and so on. The menace, the governor said, had to stop.

    Asaba now beckons on tourists. It welcomes lovers of peace, and promoters of good things of life. No wonder the city is now home to more people who flock into it to develop and invest. Good soup, na money make am, as we usually say in our local parlance. Let the bubble continue as the governor is also set to dismantle a lot of illegal and roadside motor parks in the city. If Asaba will truly wear the toga of an ideal state capital, that should be the next action by the governor.

    Illegal motor parks truly make mince meat of the governor’s efforts to decongest and make Asaba a model and modern town. Not only that the illegal motor park operators extort money from travelers, they usually hoodwink them into believing that what they do is decent and proper.

    Governor Uduaghan has to wade in now to create the necessary imprint. Especially those parks by Ibusa junction, along Asaba – Benin highway, where they usually deceive passengers who would board and may never get to their destinations. They operate with antiquated vehicles and hike fares, promising what they cannot provide.

    If these parks are destroyed forthwith, in no distant time, the city of Asaba will be among, if not the most ideal tourist destination in the country. For those who want to be away from their homes for a while, a stroll to the city of Asaba now provides the required tonic to make life worth living.

    • Azuka is a native of Okoh, Delta State.

     

  • This ‘Okada’ Country (2)

    This ‘Okada’ Country (2)

    On the economic front, as more and more companies, factories and other workplaces go into extinction, a greater percentage of the workforce, who are daily being thrown into the unemployment market, have launched themselves into the okadabusiness – a business that guarantees them instant profit and it is an all-comer’s affair. It is so because anybody can venture into the business at any time. They are emboldened because all you need is to get hold of a motorcycle and hit the road at once. There is little or no government regulations of the business except that both the rider and passenger must wear safety or crash helmet.

    There are different types of people engaged in okada business. Majority of them are disengaged labour force who have no other way to fend for themselves and their families than to be lured into the okada business to keep body and soul together. Then there are many others who are either school dropouts, who don’t want to venture into any other thing than to mount on okada so far it will provide something for the stomach.

    Yet there are others who are products of secondary schools or some tertiary institutions who have no other place or thing to do than to settle for okadaas a business. Also, you have businessmen who have ventured into okada business because it is profitable. These are investors who either bring in motorcycles in large quantities from the manufacturers abroad for sale to willing buyers or those who buy them in large quantities from local dealers and go on to assemble able bodied young boys to ride them and make returns to them.

    This last category engaged to ride okada and make returns to the owner are mostly recruited from a section of the country. In the good old days, they are ubiquitous in Ikoyi, Obalende, Victoria Island, Ikeja, Lekki, Ajah, Ogba, Agege, Ajegunle and many Lagos suburbs. Once they stay long with their ‘master’, they could move up to control some of the okada riders too. This is how cells of okada riders have multiplied and grown like mushroom all over the place.

    It is true that the business is very risky, considering the fatalities often associated with any accident on okada. It is often said that the National Orthopedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, has a large ward devoted to victims of okada accidents. Even if such does not exist, it underscores the severity of injuries from okada accidents. Many able-bodied souls, men and women, children and orphans, who were either riders or their passengers, have been lost to fatal okadaaccidents. Many more have lost their limbs and legs or suffer one form of physical deficits or the other through these bikes.

    Of course, the security aspect of it is there as well. For many years, okadahas become a veritable instrument used by hoodlums to perpetrate violent crimes, particularly armed robbery. The ease with which such crimes are committed while the perpetrators vanish from crime scenes without trace using okada has also raised serious security concern. Quite often, bank customers are attacked and dispossessed of their money by armed robbers who lurk around banks and other places waiting for their prey. The statistics released by the Lagos State Police Command on the involvement of okada riders in violent crimes like robbery, kidnapping and others is staggering. It is only those who have fallen victims that can quite appreciate the enormity of danger okada constitutes to the society.

    Having said all these, it is apt to note that the population of okada riders in a state like Lagos is very high. Some say there are as many as a million okada riders in Lagos State alone. Imagine this number and the danger they pose to traffic management in the state. These are people who do not play by the rules at all. They operate like a cult group to the extent that any infringement on any okada rider usually incurs the wrath of his colleagues who easily employ violence to settle scores. This way, they constitute a big nuisance to the wellbeing of the society.

    But considering the economic importance of okada to many families, most of who are on the brink of poverty, should we throw away the baby with the bathwater? Should the authorities outlaw the business completely in its entirety? The answer is neither here nor there. There is what could be termed ‘legitimate’ okada. These are motorcycles used for transacting corporate businesses like courier services and protocol services. Some departments of security agencies still make use of motorcycles for movement, reconnaissance, intelligence gathering or for carrying messages from one point to another.

    Many private individuals also use motorcycle as their own private vehicles to take them to work and move them around. All these‘legitimate’ okada riders, as it were, are now vulnerable to harassment and arrest by security agents, especially the police and KAI brigades who seem to have abandoned every other thing to chase okada riders all over the place. This is why the Lagos State government should devise a way to accommodate this category of okada riders.

    Therefore, however good intentioned the ban may be, it surely has adverse effect on the life and existence of those who depend solely on it to feed, clothe and pay school fees of their children and wards. This is why I think, rather than a blanket ban, as it were, the Lagos State government can bring in tricycles for distribution to any willing member of the public on installment payment plan. This can be done through the unions, local governments and other groups without any discrimination either on party, ethnic, tribal or other primordial lines. The welfare and happiness of the people should be the cardinal principle of good governance.

    In addition, the state government should try as much as possible to fix the deplorable roads in the state so as to ease vehicular movements. This will encourage those who can afford it to buy vehicles for mass transportation. No doubt, there is a dearth of commuter vehicles in Lagos State.

    Similarly, strategic planners should put heads together and devise alternative means of livelihood for the masses as a way of buying them out of the dangerous okadabusiness. We cannot continue to run an Okadacountry, which we are, at the moment.

    A few months ago, this column featured a piece titled: “Lagos, a State and its cross”. In it, I categorically made allusion to the fact that Lagos deserves a special status. This is against the fact that “the state has no compensation whatsoever for its microeconomic input in the country”. This appears to be the only safety valve for the state to wriggle out of the financial burden imposed on it by its status as the commercial capital of Nigeria.

    In the face of the mounting state expenditure on a variety of programmes such as good transportation, adequate healthcare delivery system, appropriate security system, education and many others, it is obvious that the monthly federal allocation can no longer sustain the state. Not even the state’s internally generated revenue, IGR, can adequately make up for the financial requirement of the State. “The state’s IGR, though higher than what obtains in other states of the federation, cannot meet the demand of its yearly budget.

    With a projected growth rate of six percent annually, the financial requirements of the state to sustain its enormous social services to the people, is so huge… Not even the donor agencies’ funding it receives or the multilateral loans it gets can adequately provide for its shortfall. Moreover, the daily influx of people to the state from every hamlet in the country confers on it, the unenviable status of a state consistently in search of adequate funds to sustain its infrastructural needs.

     

  • This Okada Country (1)

    This Okada Country (1)

    There is a silent ‘war’ going on in Lagos at the moment. You may call it ‘Okada War’. The war was ignited recently when the Lagos State Government placed a restriction on the operation of motorcycles, particularly the ones being used for commercial purpose, popularly called okada, along certain routes in the state. The okadaoperators are saying that the restriction, which emanated from legislation by the State House of Assembly, has put them out of business. This is more so as they claimed that the 451 roads and bridges in the state along which their movement have been restricted are the most lucrative routes.

    On its part, the Lagos State Government has maintained that the government is determined to curb the rate of fatal accidents involving these okada riders, check the rampant use of okada to commit violent crimes as well as bring sanity to the Lagos chaotic traffic system. Many public enlightenment and sensitization programmes have been held by the government in its attempt to make these okada riders to see reason and comply with the law. The okada riders too have held protests and even introduced violence to their resentment of the law.

    A few weeks ago, there was tension on Lagos roads as the commercial motorcyclists took up ‘arms’ and vandalised government vehicles on sight. Mostly affected were the state’s mass transit buses, popularly called BRT. Some of them were torched, while many more had their wind screens and side glasses shattered. In the orgy of violence, the government and security agencies in the state quickly employed tact and caution to bring the situation under control. For almost a week, it was a hide-and-seek game as security agencies battle the warring okada riders to submission.

    As they say, when two elephants fight, it is the grass beneath them that suffers. But in this case, the fight was between an elephant, which is the state government, and a ‘horse’, which is the okadariders. And instead of the proverbial grasses, it was the Lagos commuters that bore the brunt of the crisis while it lasted, although the smoldering effect could take eternity to overcome.

    I have metaphorically referred to okada riders as the ‘horse’ instead of dismissing them as mere ants waging war against the elephant because of their resilience and die-hard spirit to fight any perceived ‘injustice’. For this group of people, the first thing that takes flight is their sense of reasoning. Otherwise, what particular importance or benefit will wanton destruction of public property and brigandage do to their agitation, if not to further portray them as good-for-nothing hoodlums.

    It was a pitiful sight and it is still much so to see hundreds and thousands of stranded commuters at bus stops in Lagos metropolis waiting for the few buses on the roads. In many instances, many of the commuters have always resorted to trekking to their various destinations no matter the distance. Even the few buses available, I mean both private and government vehicles, have been overwhelmed by the flood of passengers.

    Anyway, a regime of relative peace has since taken over. The new phase of the ‘struggle’ is the ongoing silent war between the okadaoperators and policemen. Perhaps, for lack of other things to do, by this I mean for lack of any gainful employment, the okada riders have been indulging in occasional forays to many of the routes where they have been banned. The incursions are done mostly in the evenings and early in the morning to avoid the prying eyes of security agents.

    The police are not relenting either. Many a time, you notice them running after these okada riders who take the risk to thread where they are not wanted. This is why I believe that most of them still do the business for lack of any other thing to do. Otherwise, when you weigh the risk involved – police brutality, extortion, confiscation of motorcycles and the rest – you may begin to wonder why people still indulge in the business. That is the never-say-die spirit of the okadariders or mafia.

    But why is this so? Lagos is the commercial nerve centre of Nigeria. It is this status that is responsible for the influx of people to the state in search of the proverbial “milk and honey” which, perhaps, may no longer flow as it used to be. That is, if at all there had been anything near that in the past. It is also a fact that Lagos is home to indigenes of all the states of the federation. What this means is that there is no state in the country that does not have a good presence of its indigenes in every nook and cranny of Lagos State. Many other people from other African countries and the diaspora have found sanctuary in Lagos.

    Though small in terms of landmass, the population of Lagos is conservatively put at an amazing 20 million people. This burgeoning population is daily in search of their daily bread. In a situation where white-collar jobs are in short supply or outright unavailable, the next easiest option appears to be okadabusiness. This situation is further fuelled by lack of adequate capital to embark on any tangible small or medium- scale business by those who are interested in trading and other commercial preoccupations.

    Therefore, over the years, okada business has become a major stake in the economy of many families both in Nigeria as a whole and Lagos in particular. A cursory peep into history could lead us to this okada age. In the 60s and the 70s, there was nothing like okada business in Nigeria. If it existed at all, it was in some neighboring countries like Republic of Benin and Togo. Then it crept into places like the old Cross River State and some other far-flung states from Lagos. Today, the whole country has been engulfed by the okada business.

    “Why okada?” you may ask. In the good old days, especially in the late 60s and early 70s, riding a motorcycle was both a social and status symbol. The one commonly used then was a brand of motorcycle called Vespa, with its tiny tires and alluring body design. Then there was Mobylette, a smaller version. And of course, there were Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki and other brands. By the mid-70s, the Yamaha brand had entered the scene with its outstanding features.

    To own a motorcycle then was regarded as a rare luxury because the cars were very few and the motorcycles had come to displace the bicycles, especially the popular brand known as Raleigh. The motorcycles became more conspicuous on the roads after the salary windfall of 1973 commonly referred to as “Udoji Awards”.Salary arrears amounting to huge sums of money were paid to workers at that time. Many bought motorcycles, some small cars, others built houses while some married additional wives. Depending on what you wanted to ride – a motorcycle, a car or even a woman – there was enough ‘free’ money to do this courtesy of the military dictatorship of General Yakubu Gowon (retd) at that time. This was a scenario that gradually snowballed into today’s harvest of okada in Nigeria.

    However, the socio-economic importance of okadacannot be easily overlooked. It has filled the vacuum of inadequate transportation in most parts of the country. Where the vehicles are in drastic short supply, okada seems to be making up for the shortfall. Similarly, where the roads have been rendered more or less impassable either for lack of maintenance or poor construction, okada has come in handy for the commuters. This is because okada don’t discriminate. It can navigate its way along bush paths or many of the pothole-infested roads all over the country. Lagos is no exception.

     

  • Of our ‘dumbing-down’ culture (1)

    Of our ‘dumbing-down’ culture (1)

    Citizens need to get angry to insist that governments do the right thing

    Any of us in this country, particularly in the Lagos area are surprised at the reaction of employers and employees of Okada Mass Transit System to the Lagos State traffic law. Why should anyone be surprised that okada businessmen and some of the respectable citizens that have to rely on this mode of transport are up in arms against a law that is designed to bring sanity to vehicular movement in a city that can pass as the most clogged urban space in the universe?

    Why should anyone be amazed at the amount of noise by politics-for-the sake-of-power-and-privilege-only advocates calling for fire and brimstones on the governor of Lagos State duly elected by citizens to facilitate development in the state? The ubiquity of low taste and absence of long-term planning on the part of most of the middleclass men that have managed the country should be enough to disabuse the minds of okadaphiles of the belief that okada transport system is necessary or inevitable.

    The story of okada and of many other aspects of our country’s banalisation of important aspects of modern life is similar to that of a physically-challenged person being criticised by a casual critic. The casual critic said to the physically-challenged that the load on his head was not properly placed. The man in return admonished the critic to look down (instead of up at the load on his head) for the root of the problem. The root of the noise against the good people of the Lagos State House of Assembly and Governor Fashola who made and signed the recent traffic law is an outcome of decades of Nigeria’s trivialization of values that drive and sustain modernity elsewhere.

    Okada did not just spring up at a time when there was no government. It is one of the regrettable legacies of military dictatorship. Like the current constitution that emptied the country of its federal values, okada came into being under the nose of military dictators. In most countries with forward-looking rulers – military or civilian—okada as a mode of mass transit would have been prevented through right policies and legislations from surfacing in the first instance. The care-free attitude of military rulers when okada transportation emerged and of succeeding governments until Abuja and Port Harcourt blazed the trail of legislating against okada is still at work in other areas of our national life. The recent effort by the government of Lagos State to push the lever of transformation from primitivism to modernity is expected to be resisted not only by okada transporters but also by opportunistic politicians and even honest professionals who are not conversant with the historic duty of the middle class in modern times.

    The role of the middle class since the Renaissance and more especially since the Industrial Revolution is to work to improve the quality of life of the individual and of the society through establishment of standards and practices that are capable of refining the life of the citizenry. Since governance moved from feudal lords to members of the middle class, standards have improved generally at the hands of middle-class men and women in government and society. Such time-honoured middle-class values as commitment to personal security and safety; promoting intersection between individual’s success and the success of society as a whole; and acceptance by government of responsibility to provide transportation and communication infrastructures have been overlooked or ignored by government and cultural leaders in our country for too long, until a few governments recently started to take the risk of restoring some of these values. The scapegoating of Lagos State government for taking bold and brave steps to restore order to the transportation sector in the state is understandable. It is the result of decades of dumbing down of values that are central to sustaining modern life.

    Why would people who grow up not having safe roads to travel within and between towns in most states of the union not feel bad that Lagos State is trying to move the country’s most populous city from chaos to order? Why would citizens with no regular access to train or bus feel uncomfortable about okada mode of transportation? Why would citizens that migrate from villages without any trace of modern means of livelihood and living not feel angry that okada is being demonized in Lagos, the city that they have come to see as an anything-goes city that belongs to nobody?

    Why would citizens who migrate from villages where governments have no interest in how they get to their farms and places of work not feel scandalized that Lagos State feels obliged to regulate a chaotic transport system in the city? Why would citizens who travel on unsafe roads in 14-seater buses named Federal Government Assisted Mass Transit System not feel out of sort in a Lagos that says okada transporters must do their business in a way that is safe for majority of the citizens and residents of Lagos? People who have been degraded over the years cannot but feel cheated that any government in the country, particularly in what they think is a free-for-all state, certainly need help and re-education to grow out of the cultural inferiority they have been thrown into over the years.

    But the way out of the problem created by okada business is not to look for reasons to justify keeping okada as an acceptable mode of transporting citizens across the state. Okada should not have happened in the first place, but it is never too late or too risky to put an end to an unsafe business for citizens at large. Lagos State Government should be congratulated for embarking on a national project that is long overdue for remediation. If legislating against indiscriminate use of okada makes citizens angry, it may not be a bad thing at the end of the day. Citizens need to get sufficiently incensed to pluck the courage to insist that federal and state governments across the country should do the right thing: provide proper infrastructure for proper mass transportation. It is senseless to expect any responsible state government to feel good about an inherited policy to move over 17 million people by okada. Citizens need to be angered to the point that they are ready to tell their governments to do the right thing: provide transportation and communication infrastructure to encourage entrepreneurs to put more buses and taxis on the roads, to convey citizens in a dignified and safe manner.

    That Keke Marwa or Keke NAPEP is used in India or okada is used in Benin Republic is not a sufficient reason to rely on this mode of transportation in Nigeria. Trains, buses, and taxis are used in most countries of the world to transport citizens. Civilisation or modernisation is about copying good practices, not bad ones. Encouraging okada as a mode of transporting the masses in one of the most populous cities in the world is an illustration of a culture and government that have lost the will to protect citizens.

    To be continued next week.

  • ‘Okada’ restriction

    ‘Okada’ restriction

    •It’s the right step to take as part of efforts to sanitise movements on Lagos roads

    WHY should a simple case of law enforcement of a legislative enactment by a legal authority generate any furore? This is the question that has been thrown up by the brouhaha emanating from the new Lagos State Road Traffic Law, some sections of which restrict from certain routes, commercial motorcycles commonly known as ‘Okada’. The Law bans operation of commercial motorcyclists on 475 out of the over 9,010 routes in Lagos State.

    We acknowledge the makeshift role that ‘Okada’ riders are playing in easing public transportation problem in the state and the country as a whole. But the issue of ‘Okada’ restriction should be devoid of any emotive effusion. For the benefit of Lagosians, the matter would be better addressed if due consideration could be accorded available statistics regarding the desirability or otherwise of the restriction.

    The issue, to us, is not just about the motorcyclists but more about law and order. The state House of Assembly has passed a law on the traffic situation in Lagos which, as a legislative body, it is competent to do. Until it is amended, that remains the traffic law of the state and disobedience in whatever form by the ‘Okada’ riders or any vehicular driver should not be condoned by the government.

    The issue at hand is about the rule of law and we do know that the commercial motorcyclists are not above the law. Their breach of public peace by destroying more than 40 Bus Rapid Transit vehicles and making bonfires on the road is criminal. While we recognise their economic right to do lawful business, such should not be deleterious to the overall interest of the state.

    The statistics reeled out against the ‘Okada’ operators are damning. According to official figures compiled by the Planning and Research Department of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), and corroborated by police records, not less than 619 people had been killed or seriously injured in commercial motorcycle accidents across the state between January 2010 and October 2012. Of the number, 107 people died while 512 sustained serious injuries from the accidents. The gender breakdown shows that 71 males and 36 females died during the period. More devastating is the fact that accidents on ‘Okada’ have been on the increase in barely over a year. Out of a total of 442 ‘Okada’ accidents, 271 occurred in 2011 while 171 so far occurred in 2012. In 2011 alone, 47 were killed while 98 persons were injured. The death toll in 2012 increased to 63 people with 59 sustaining serious injuries so far.

    Apart from the safety fears about operations of ‘Okada’ owners, the security statistics given by the state police command is equally flummoxing. Umar Abubakar Mango, Lagos State Commissioner of Police disclosed that of the 30 armed robbery incidents recorded between the months of July and September this year, 22 were clinically done with the use of ‘Okada’ motorcycles. Eight robberies reportedly occurred in July with seven involving the use of ‘Okada’; five out of eight robberies in August; and in September, 10 out of 14 robberies were carried out on ‘Okada’. There were several reported cases of motorcyclists lurking around and robbing people coming out of banks, houses and even in traffic hold-ups.

    Furthermore, we abhor a situation where the ‘Okada’ business has effectively turned into a veritable means of pollution to the Lagos environment. Moreover, things have degenerated to a level where many drop-outs just leave their states for Lagos to take up ‘Okada’ jobs. Most others abandon their learned trades to make quick money from ‘Okada’ operations. These anomalies must be streamlined and this law has come to act promptly as an instrument of social re-engineering.

    However, the Lagos State Government should do more in the realm of public transportation. Feeder roads that are mostly bad currently should be fixed so that taxis and buses can take the place of ‘Okada’ that have been restricted to certain areas of the state.

     

  • Adeyemi backs Lagos on Okada ban

    THE ban placed on commercial motorcycles popularly known as Okada from plying the 475 prohibited routes in Lagos State is a right step in the right direction, the Senior Pastor of Daystar Christian Centre, Pastor Sam Adeyemi, has declared.

    He said using motorcycles for commercial purpose is not befitting of the megacity status of Lagos and the dignity of Nigerians.

    Adeyemi spoke last Thursday with reporters ahead of the annual Excellence in Leadership conference of the church slated for November 9-11.

    According to him: “We, as a people should learn to place value on our lives. If we consider the many deaths okadas have caused and how they have aided armed robbers to escape from policemen, we should have no problem doing away with them.”

    He admitted many families depend on the motorcycles for livelihood but said they constitute a bigger menace for the society at large.

    The cleric, however, called on the Lagos state government to mitigate the societal implications of the ban by providing more jobs and better security.

    He urged Lagosians to consider the policy, which he described as really difficult, a necessary sacrifice for the attainment of a better, safer society.

     

  • ‘Okada riders damage 42 govt buses in Lagos protests’

    ‘Okada riders damage 42 govt buses in Lagos protests’

    IT was time yesterday for government agencies in Lagos to count their losses after Monday’s protest by commercial motorcyclists, popularly known as Okada riders.

    The protest also continued yesterday in some parts of the metropolis.

    The riders, in their hundreds marched on Alagbado and Alakuko, outskirts of Lagos, accusing the police of shooting one of their colleagues.

    The atmosphere was tense. The dead motorcyclist was identified as Alagede. He was allegedly shot by a policeman attached to the Alakuko Division.

    The incident occurred at Kollington bus-stop on the Abeokuta Expressway. The veracity of the claim could nt be confirmed at press time.

    The protesters threatened to burn down the Alakuko police station, if the officer was not produced.

    As of the time of this report, they have vandalised a LAGBus and a bonfire was made at Alagbado Bus stop, opposite AIT road.

    An eyewitness told The Nation that the LAGBus was stopped at Kollington Bus stop, Alagbado and passengers were forced to alight.

    The management of LAGBUS Assets Management Ltd. said 37 of its buses were damaged.

    The company is one of the operators of buses using the dedicated Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lane in the metropolis.

    Another operator, the Lagos Metropilitan Area Transport (LAMATA) said five of its buses were vandalised.

    Managing Director of LAGBUS, Mr. Babatude Disu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that despite the damage, no passenger was injured.

    Disu said the company was still taking stock.

    Mr Kolawole Ojelabi, the External Relations Specialist of LAMATA said: “Although commuters were stranded at our bus stations because ticketers were not on ground, we had to begin operation immediately normalcy returned in order not to increase people’s hardship.”

    Meanwhile, those who spoke with NAN condemned the action of the motorcyclists.

    Mr Oladele Banjo, a civil servant who resides at Sango and works at Ikoyi, said he had to trek from Ikoyi to CMS because the few buses on the road on Monday were held up in traffic.

    Another civil servant ,Mrs Ibukun Adegbesan, condemned the act, saying it was unlawful for certain people to hold the state to ransom for their selfish reason.

    “The law is operating and commercial motorcyclists have to abide by it, after all some states have enforced the law and yet heads did not roll. A banker, Mr Ralph Edet, said the vandalism was a foolish way of reacting because the buses were for the masses.

    “Nigerians should learn not to destroy government property as a way of showing their grievances because it causes a setback to the economy,” Edet said.

    NAN reports that due to the protest, most commuters were stranded while others had to take a long walk to get to their destinations.

    NAN also reports that the hardship continued on Tuesday morning as many passengers were stranded while other commercial bus operators hiked their fares.

     

     

  • Okada accounts for 25% of crimes in Lagos

    Okada accounts for 25% of crimes in Lagos

    About 25 per cent of crimes committed in State were aided by commercial motorcycle operators otherwise called okada riders.

    The Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaiye, stated this in Lagos at a stakeholders’ forum on the new traffic law organised for local government officials.

    Represented by Mr Olanrewaju Akinsola, Ipaiye said the figure was the outcome of a recent research conducted by the Ministry of Health.

    He said no responsible government would continue to watch the rising spate of robbery and havoc being caused by the reckless okada operators.

    Ipaiye said the state government was concerned about the situation, hence the enactment of the traffic law.

    According to him, this is meant to regulate the commercial motorcycle business and also to sanitise the public transportation system in the state.

    He noted that the traffic law was not entirely new, recalling that it was first enacted in 1949 to serve only about 300, 000 people.

    Ipaiye said the state’s population currently stands at 18 million.

    The commissioner stressed that the old traffic law, having been amended six times, needed to be fine-tuned in line with the current situation.

    “When a law has been amended several times, there are bound to be issues of ambiguity,” he said.

    Beside security, he said the new law would also address specifically the issues of standard, safety and sanity.

    He also spoke on the use of motorcycles by courier service companies and other dispatch riders adding only only approved motorbikes, with 200cc engines, would be allowed, just as he added that the riders must use the right number plate, attach the mail cabin and carry no passengers.

    “You will also apply to the commissioner for a permit,” he said.

    The commissioner explained that the 200cc engine was approved based on the recommendation of experts that it is the minimum engine capacity for commuting.

    Although he said that the state government did not outlaw the operation of commercial motorcycles, he warned that the business must be done in accordance with the law.

    Ipaiye also said that no branding of commercial vehicles operating in the state would be allowed outside the approved state colour.

    Rearing of animals on the road, hawking in traffic, begging and washing of vehicles is now forbidden, he said.

    Selling of alcoholic drinks and herbal concortion would no longer be allowed within 100 metres of any bus stops and motor parks, the commissioner said.

     

  • Okada and the Lagos Traffic Law

    Okada and the Lagos Traffic Law

    IR: Some 15 years ago, while I was still in Sokoto, I had flagged down a commercial motorcyclist, what Lagosians call okada, but which is called kabu kabu up there. It was about 9 p.m, and there were few vehicles on the roads, and fewer human traffic still. We were approaching a junction and the traffic light was showing red a distance away.
    Looking that there was no vehicle anywhere and no one I could see around, I expected the motorcyclist to keep moving. But when he got there, he stayed put, waiting for the light to turn green. I was not only moved, I was impressed. Some may have urged him to move on, and perhaps generating an argument, but I never did such. Here was an uneducated northerner, perhaps illiterate, obeying traffic law to the letter.
    I asked him in Hausa why he did not jump the light since there was no vehicle or even anyone in sight, and since he apparently posed no danger. He said he always felt morally obliged to do the right thing. I patted him on the back and his leathery face split into a smile. When I got to my destination, I paid him the fare, and he made to give me my change, I told him to keep the change. And he was very thankful.
    I also remember back then again in Sokoto, I strolled along the street with a friend, when a Caucasian rode past on a motorbike, with full protective gear, and a bold helmet, and my friend yelled at him: “Get real!” And the rider rode on with a confused expression. Perhaps he had done something wrong, he thought. It seems it is not in our nature to obey laws, even that which will save our own lives. Up till today, it is common to see an Okada rider with his passenger both not wearing protective helmets.
    When traffic snarls, I see drivers“jackrabbit” just because they are not patient enough. And I often wonder where they are running to and how much time they think they can gain. But they not only burn their fuel, they could also cause unnecessary panic that could lead to accidents as they try to overtake, vehicles after vehicles.
    Okada riders perhaps pose the greatest risk to a driver in Lagos, and even to pedestrians. Even when they are at fault especially riding one-way, and they hit you, you have bought yourself a cargo whether you like it or not, as sympathisers will package the Okada man for you to take to the hospital and incur unnecessary expenses. Nobody remembers your car that he may have dented.
    The Lagos State government has signed into law new traffic regulations, but instead of welcoming them, many are getting frantic about this. They complain that the penalties are too stiff, and are now fearful of running foul of the law. But doing the right thing, rather than the fear of paying penalties should be the drive to obey traffic laws. The best driver is the one who can predict the other driver. But if the other driver is lawless, it makes it more difficult to predict him.
    The Lagos government is well-meaning and sounding the message for all to hear, and it is for us to cooperate for our own good.
    • Dr Cosmas Odoemena,
    Lagos