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Tag: Okada

  • Okada riders protest ‘extortion’ by Kwara agency

    Okada riders protest ‘extortion’ by Kwara agency

    Commercial motorcyclists (aka okada riders) yesterday protested against the Kwara State Road Traffic Management Agency (KWARTMA) for alleged extortion, intimidation and harassment.

    The protesters were said to have taken their grievances to the Government House in Ilorin.

    The Chief of Staff, Government House, Alhaji Wahab Yusuf, received their representatives and held a meeting with them.

    It was learnt that the protesters on Wednesday marched to the Gaa-Imam office of the agency, brandishing weapons.

    Operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) prevented them from gaining entry.

    The Chief Executive Officer of KWARTMA, Mr. Yekeen Bello, denied the allegation.

    Said he: “The allegation by the okada riders that our officials charge them N10,000 is a surprise to me. It is also not true that our personnel demand N200 bribe from arrested commercial motorcyclists.”

  • Lagos serves okada, tricycle operators’ ultimatum

    Lagos serves okada, tricycle operators’ ultimatum

    Motorcycle and tricycle operators have been issued a 21 day ultimatum by the Lagos State government to vacate restricted routes. Anyone caught after the period it said, would face prosecution.

    According to the law, penalty for riding against traffic or riding on prohibited routes is a three years imprisonment, which may be commuted to community service and the forfeiture of the vehicle.

    Secretary to the State Government Mr Tunji Bello, who broke the news Thursday, while addressing reporters said the resolution, was taken after series of consultative meetings with the leadership of the
    various motorcycle and tricycle associations.

    He said the government is angry at the impunity with which okada and tricycle operators flout the laws guiding their operations. He said government would no longer tolerate the recalcitrant attitude of the
    operators.

    The SSG said government would not allow a return to the recent past where crime rate and road accidents caused by unruly motorcycle riders were prevalent, before it begins the enforcement of the Road Traffic Law.

    He therefore directed them to call their members to order.

    He said, government, realising their values and contributions to the economy, decided that rather than outright ban of motorcycles as a means of transportation like other states, had restricted them to 475
    roads out of the 9,100 road networks.

    He therefore warned the operators against testing the will of the government in sanitizing transportation in the state.

    Bello stated further that the Lagos State Government being a listening and compassionate one, has directed a massive public enlightenment that will precede the full enforcement of the restriction order to sensitise all operators and residents on the need to conform to the law.

    Bello emphasised that in line with the dictate of Section 3 and Regulation 16 sub-section 4,5, and 6 of the Road Traffic Law, commercial motorcycle are restricted from 475 of the 9100 road networks in the state and must always wear standard crash protection helmet with full protection for both the rider and passenger.

    They are further banned from carrying more than one passenger, non-carriage of children or pregnant women, and must not operate okada beyond 8.00pm in Victoria Island, Ikoyi and Ikeja and beyond 10.00pm
    in other areas of the State.

    They are also barred from riding on the kerb, median or road setbacks or on opposite direction of traffic, or in any direction prohibited by law and to respect traffic laws and regulations.
    The leadership of the motorcycle and tricycles operators thanked the government for taking them into confidence before commencing the enforcement.

    They promised to pass the message to their members and carry out their own enforcement before the State’s deadline.

  • FCTA impounds 4,790 okada, 883 keke napep

    The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Special Task Team on City Cleaning and Management has said it has impounded about 4,790 commercial motorcycles and 883 tricyclesalso known as keke napeps in the last 90 days.

    Also impounded by the task team were 645 unpainted commercial vehicles, as well as 84 illegal commercial buses during the period under review.

    The FCT Permanent Secretary, Mr. John Chukwu disclosed this during after meeting with the chairman of the Task Team and the FCT Police Commissioner, Mr. Wilson Inalegwu in Abuja. The release was made available by the Assistant Director/Chief Press Secretary to the Minister, Muhammad Sule.

    According to him, 3,000 commercial sex workers had also been arrested by the Task Team and handed over to the Abuja Environment Protection Board for prosecution and subsequent rehabilitation.

    Chukwu noted that the Task Team also embarked on city cleaning activities, which culminated in the closure and removal of 52 illegal car wash sites and 83 illegal auto mechanic workshops.

    “In addition, eight illegal sand dredging and quarry sites, 205 shanties, 89 illegal markets, seven illegal car marts and 98 food vendor kiosks and furniture workshops all located in unauthorised places within the city have been closed down.

    “Similarly, a total of 2,534 street hawkers and beggars had been arrested by the FCT Administration and 102 strayed animals were removed from illegal cattle markets in Gudu and other parts of the city during the same period,” he said.

    Chukwu therefore directed the Task Team to redouble its efforts to rid the FCC of all environmental nuisances, stressing that it is not business as usual.

    He further directed all operational departments in the FCTA to be committed to ensure that their statutory responsibilities are carried out, insisting that they must be proactive in city management in line with the vision of a new Nigeria.

    He called on the residents of the FCC to be law-abiding and remain their brothers’ keepers, urging the residents to report any suspicious movements to the law enforcement agents.

  • Trouble for Igbinedion varsity students

    •Edo revokes clinical training deal

    Medical students of the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State are in for a tough time as the state government has terminated an agreement to train them at its specialist hospitals over a N350 million debt.

    Commissioner for Information Mr. Louis Odion, at a news conference in Benin city, the state capital, yesterday said the university had not paid anything to the government since the agreement was entered into on September 1, 2006.

    He said Governor Adams Oshiomhole approved the termination with immediate effect.

    The MoU was entered into on September 1, 2006 under the Lucky Igbinedion administration to enable the Igbinedion University use the state-owned Central Hospital Benin and Stella Obasanjo Hospital for the practicals of its medical students. It was part of the condition demanded by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) to grant the Igbinedion University accreditation to train medical students in the clinical specialties.

    Odion said: “Consistent with his avowed commitment to the principle of probity, accountability and transparency, Comrade Oshiomhole in 2013 directed the State Ministry of Health to invite the management of Igbinedion University to settle the outstanding liabilities as well as convey to the university management a notification for an upward review of the annual fee to reflect current economic realities.

    “However, the university wrote back and offered to pay a ridiculous N50,000 per month for use of the facilities and highly-skilled personnel/consultants at Benin Central Hospital and Stella Obasanjo Hospital.

    “Regrettably, concerted efforts made ever since by the State Government to make the management of Igbinedion University to pay the debt that had accumulated over the years and also agree to an upward review of the annual charge have proved abortive.

    “In the circumstance, the government is left with no other option than terminate the MOU in public interest. The Ministry of Health has equally been directed to inform the Nigerian University Commission and the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria that the Benin Central Hospital and Stella Obasanjo Hospital will no longer be made available for the use of the medical students of Igbinedion University.”

    The Vice Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Eghosa Osaghae, said the university was yet to be informed about the decision.

    Prof. Osaghae, who spoke in a telephone interview, said the university honoured the terms of the MOU and wondered why the state government would rush to the media instead of writing to the university.

     

  • Okada rider ‘rapes’ two female passengers

    The Edo State Police Command at the weekend paraded Lucky Aliu, a commercial motorcyclist (Okada), for allegedly conspiring with 25-year-old Anthony Adamu to rape two female passengers.

    The incident reportedly occurred at Iddo, Okpella, in Etsako East Local Government Area.

    Parading the two suspects before reporters at the command’s headquarters in Benin, the state capital, Police Commissioner Folusho Adebanjo said the victims were picked up by the Okada rider when they were returning from a funeral ceremony.

    Adebanjo said: “On their way, the motorcyclist suddenly stopped and pretended that his motorcycle had developed a fault. He dragged the two passengers to the bush and forcefully had canal knowledge of them.”

    The suspects confessed to the crime.

    The police said they were on the trail of Aliu’s “accomplice”.

    The command also paraded Monday Godwin and Onyeka Nathaniel for allegedly kidnapping an 18-year old girl, who was reportedly gang-raped by three boys.

  • Some serious thinking needs to be done on this Okada riding business

    For the sake of the rest of us who do not use Okada, let us all sit down at this here round table and shake fists on the matter

    First there was talk of the federal government banning Okada riding throughout Nigeria. At that, my heart did a somersault; you know, like it does when you get the news that your wife has been delivered of a set of quadruplets. Gbam! You say that’s good news? Well, I’m sure you know that depends on where you’re standing. Then there was a definite and suspiciously resounding denial of any intention by the government to ban Okada riding. At that, my heart took a dip. Wham! And I thought, ‘hmmm, I smell a rat!’ Before you hang me, though, please let me first have my say, even if you won’t give me my way.

    For the sake of the rest of us who do not use Okada, let us all sit down at this here round table and shake fists on the matter. I know many Okada riders. Some of them are my relatives, friends, neighbours and family artisans, and some of them are even friendly with me, when we are not on the road. I think that gives me a vantage position to be objective about the situation.

    Yes sir, I know; many reasons have been given on why many riders have taken to the road: failed infrastructures like electricity, bad economy, low clientele, etc. These, say the experts, account for why over half of the riders are not practicing their primary professions. These people are on the roads because they need to feed their families.

    Well, to that I can only say that I am also experiencing those failed infrastructures too but you have not seen me take to the road riding Okada. But don’t mind me; it’s just my cowardice controlling me as usual. True, I have seen some women on those things (and how I have hated them out of envy), but I always think, if I can get from point A to point B without endangering my limbs unnecessarily, why do I need to prove that what a man can do, a woman can do much worse?

    As a matter of fact, I remember riding one of the things just once very many years ago and that was because the city I had gone to visit had no taxis. I believe the rider is still telling anyone who cares to listen how he once picked a fare who held his neck from behind to keep herself from falling. I am sure you cannot blame me. Have you taken a good look at a typical rider? He is often wearing black-rimmed and thick glasses through which he sees the road and all of us rather darkly, a dress ensemble consisting of sokoto, buba and a well insulated sports jacket. He completes this dressing with a pair of flip-flop slip-ons and a helmet that hangs on the mirror for protection (of the mirror, that is, not the head). Now, you understand my fear.

    Again, the argument has been advanced that these riders are contributing to the economy of the country by helping to increase the employment figure in Nigeria. Honestly I cannot argue either side of this. The only problem is that a very good number of them are liable to end up in orthopedic hospitals with crushed or broken legs, arms or heads. Yes, I guess you are right, they are contributing to giving doctors, nurses, pharmaceutical companies, etc., a great deal of trade. I also have it on good authority that even doctors and nurses are getting weary of the steady stream of people who go out of their house of a day to crush their bones. I do remember stopping somewhere to purchase some item, only to hear the women around there wailing on the death of a young rider who had passed in front of their shop only a few minutes before then.

    One evening not too long ago, a somewhat inebriated young man known to me got on the motorcycle he used for Okada business, and ran headlong into a parked car, damaging the car, of course, and irreparably damaging his own neck, turning him into a quadriplegic. Not long after, his elder brother got on another motorcycle and ran headlong into another motorcyclist at top speed, killing both of them.

    Honestly, have you seen how unsteady and thin those motorcycles are? They surely belong in the category of the ‘now you see them, now you don’t’. Truly, many of them disappear into thin air while you are looking at them. Sometimes, the riders also disappear with them, especially under trucks and trailers; that is, when they are not causing mayhem on the road. So, if any figure is being increased, I think it’s the gains of the country where the motorcycles are being manufactured; they are smiling to the bank while we are groaning.

    Then, the use of motorcycles as a means of transportation is doing nothing but reinforcing and increasing the image of Nigeria as a very poor country gripped by chaos, confusion and wretchedness. At no time do you get this feeling than when every motorist has been stopped at the traffic lights or traffic warden. Then, when all are released, it’s the motorcyclists who first surge forward like a swarm of ravaging locusts revving infernal noises and belching soot and smoke to be consumed by the hapless motorists coming behind them. I don’t particularly care for that.

    Naturally, many of us non-users of Okada are in favour of banning their use. The country’s government needs to stop hiding behind them to give the illusion that it is providing employment. It is not because in this employment, there is no possibility of career development.

    However, two or three words of caution here when it comes time to ban them. The first concerns the timing. Clearly, no banning can be effective when the group that uses the motorcycles remains hungry. Infrastructural decay has been fingered as the culprit. These have not been addressed in the country because as usual, the government is playing politics with them. So, clearly, until that is done, it will be grossly unfair to remove the source of livelihood of that group, no matter how riotous or unpleasant its members are, without replacing that livelihood with something that can feed them better.

    Secondly, the government needs to plan the ban properly when it is ready to impose it. Right now, Okada is too useful in helping people get from the express road right into their bedrooms. So, it’s not just the riders, but even the clientele, who will be ready to bite the head out of any ban-ner of Okada. It cannot just come out of blues; it must be done systematically.

    Thirdly, before the government bans Okada, it must first have a plan concerning what to do with the millions of the little monsters that have been imported into the country. This means that there must have been put in place a system by which they will be destroyed or recycled or exported out of the country again. This will be the only way to avoid the evil of motorcycle gangs and gang wars that is often concomitant with so many of them lying around the place.

    Clearly, we need to seriously think about this Okada issue now so that we may see it as it really is: a social disease. Using them to fodder political interests or score political points as is being done currently in Ekiti state is being most unkind to the future of many Nigerians. Using them to project a rise in employment figures is also engaging in deception. Truth is that Okada business is destructive at all levels. This is what we need to confront.

  • Delta impounds over 200 Okada in Sapele

    The Delta State Ministry of Transport, has impounded more than 200 commercial motorcycles, also known as Okada, in Sapele.

    The exercise followed the state government’s decision to phase the use of Okada for commercial purposes in Ika North, South and Sapele council areas of the state.

    Commissioner of Transport Ben Igbakpa, who led the team that carried out the exercise to Ughelli, expressed displeasure at the refusal of Okada operators  in the area to respect government’s order, despite positive gesture from government, which had shifted earlier deadlines to accommodate the views of Okada operators.

    Igbakpa, who said government decided to impound motorcycles to demonstrate its level of seriousness about ending the operation of  commercial motorcycles in the designated places, also denied knowledge of the destruction of some motorcycles in Mosogar recently.

    Igbakpa urged the motorcycle operators to use  tricycles popularly referred to as Keke at a reduced rate from the State Transport secretariat, Asaba if they must remain in business.

    Meanwhile, controversy is trailing the burning of some confiscated motorcycles at the Mosogar end of the Gammon Bridge by yet-to-be-identified persons.

    Though an eyewitness disclosed that the burning of the motorcycles numbering over 100 was ordered by Igbapka,  the transport commissioner denied knowledge of the incident.

    “I am not aware of the burning of any Okada, the fact remains that, any confiscated Okada is not going back to the owner. How such Okadas are being disposed is not the issue, what matter is that all Okadas in these areas must be off the road,” he said.

  • Much ado about okada ‘ban’ In Lagos

    One never really anticipates that the issue of the ‘ban’ of commercial motorcycles popularly called ‘okada’ in Lagos could become a major subject of discourse at this point in time. But then, this is Nigeria! It will be recalled that the Lagos Traffic Law was signed into law on August 2, 2012 by the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola.

    An aspect of the law restricts the operations of commercial motorcycles operators in 495 designated strategic highways and routes out of a total number of 9,700 available routes within the metropolis. The import of this is that the law does not in any way bans the use of okada. Rather, what it does is to regulate the activities of commercial motorcycle riders in the state. As at presently, there are more than 9000 routes in the state through which okada riders could effectively operate within the confines of the law.

    Being a government that takes a scientific and methodical approach to governance, the enactment of the law restricting okada operation in the state was primarily meant to protect the interest of the public. It was enacted to ensure that people do not ride on okada along routes that could put their lives and those of others in jeopardy. Universally, one of the major responsibilities of government is the protection of the lives of its people. Hence, the Lagos State government is only performing one of its constitutional duties in restricting okada activities in the state.

    Without a doubt, the misery and grief that okada has brought into several homes in Lagos, and indeed across the country, is not unknown to many.  Available statistics from the Lagos State Management Authority (LASTMA) reveals that not less than 619 people were killed or seriously injured in okada accident between 2011 and 2012.

    Aside safety issue, there is also a security angle to the whole okada issue. A 2012 police report shows that out of the 30 armed robbery incidents recorded in Lagos between July and September 2012, 22 involved commercial motorcycles.

    Looking at these available facts and figures, there should be no controversy about the fact that the operations of okada in the state need to be regulated for the common good of all.

    Besides the agony and grief it brings upon its victims, the lawlessness of okada riders on major highways is quite nauseating thereby making commuting an harrowing experience. Therefore, to  a guarantee the free-flow of traffic and to ensure that the movement of investors coming into the state is not hindered and put at risk, the introduction of the law becomes necessary. No doubt, every attempt to sanitise and restore order to the hitherto chaotic situation on most of our  roads should be embraced, especially going by the traffic situation in Lagos. That is what any responsible government should do.

    It is important that Lagosians cooperate with the state government in ensuring the success of the Lagos Traffic Law since it was mainly enacted to protect the people. Life is a precious gift by God. Self preservation is, therefore, the responsibility of every human being. Self-preservation is keeping you alive, either physically or psychologically. The desire to stay alive is a natural instinct in every human being. The restriction placed on okada in the state is about preserving lives. We must, therefore, collaborate with government to preserve lives. The different between animal kingdoms and human societies is that in the latter laws are made to regulate human conducts in order to avoid the creation of a state of anarchy.

     

    Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

  • Okada trade is undignifying, says NLC chief

    Okada trade is undignifying, says NLC chief

    SHOULD Nigerians accept commercial motorcycle popularly known as okada as a form of public transportation?

    No, says Deputy President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Comrade Issa Aremu. “Okada is very undignifying and the job, very risky,” he said.

    Speaking in Lagos, Aremu said okada should be banned outright.

    Aremu said: “Let us all continue to give the government the needed support to revive acceptable modes of transportation that would address mass transportation and one that we would all be proud of as a people. Okada is demeaning and dehumanising and can never be an alternative to mass transportation in this country.”

    He urged Lagosians to continue to support government’s investments in the public transportation sector, which according to him, remains the way out of unemployment and poverty.

    Many, he said, would benefit from jobs that could be created by the inter-modal means of transportation, rather than the risky job of okada.

    Facts, he said, showed that the rate of okada related accidents and okada related crimes have dropped across the state, adding that these should be supported and strengthened.

    About two weeks ago, the Lagos State House of Assembly initiated moves to amend the Schedule II of the Lagos State Traffic Law 2012, restricting okada operation on the highways, 495 major roads, bridges and pedestrian walkways.

    Citing continued operators’ complaints of harassment, extortion and confiscation of their motorcycles even on approved routes by policemen, the law makers, in a resolution, urged Governor Babatunde Fashola to prevail on the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Umar Manko, (who was then the Commissioner of Police), to order his men to stop apprehending operators, pending the amendment to the law.

    The government distanced itself from the move as the Commissioner of Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, denied government’s knowledge of the proposed amendment.

    He said: “Okada business is not a decent job, it is not unionised and not pensionable. I admit that people go into it because of economic pressure, but there was a time in this country when okada was never an option. Let us go back to that era. Let us collectively say no to okada as a form of transportation.

  • Lagos okada, not for politics

    There have been some politically- motivated statements and articles of late about the role of the okada, the commercial motorcycle, in the lives of Lagosians, and some of them have not done justice to the conscience of the commuter. When the matter came to the boil about a year ago, the misunderstanding was clear.

    The Babatunde Raji Fashola administration introduced a restriction in the circulation of the machines. But swiftly the spin that went to town was that it was a ban. This is a misuse of language for a tendentious end. But at the time it was not read as an act of overt political counter-narrative against the Lagos State government.

    The state made it clear that it wanted to restrict their operation for a number of reasons. Not among this reason is the inconvenience it potentially could impose on the average commuter in the city. The principal reasons were linked with safety. In some of the hospitals, the okadas had become synonymous with slow lynching. Some of the hospitals in Lagos had become acquainted with the gloomy images of the victims. Legs broken, charred flesh bleeding profusely, tears in deluge, deaths to tell the story. And newspapers, including this one, reported many of those stories, gory pieces of young, old, men and women, frittered away in one okada’s nervous tilt into disaster.

    Governor Fashola announced a restriction from the major arteries of the city, where the heavy traffic snarl is characterised by such heavy duty vehicles like the trucks, trailers that sometimes bear crates without hinges. The roads also came with various lanes making the trajectory of the okadas so serpentine that they lost their bearings and collided with these mammoth contractions. If cars could meet perilous destinies on these roads, the matter of the thin, fragile okada without unprotected passengers was a foregone conclusion.

    That informed the decision of the Lagos State government to the bold step.  In spite of the restrictions, the okadas still operate in 95 per cent of the roads in the city. The statistics bear out the wisdom of the action. From the records so far, before the restrictions the number of accidents per month was about 600 on the average. By the recent reports, it is about 100. Deaths per month averaged 15. Today, it is about one. Sources say in the past few months, no deaths have been recorded.

    The decision may have started in Lagos, but others have since followed suit. And the decision has not had any partisan flavour. Abia State, Akwa Ibom State and Rivers State are a few of the states that have followed that path.

    So, anyone who wants to politicise a matter of public safety because of the ambition for power must be courting death and disaster for people and their families.