Femi Adedoyin, a commercial motorcyclist (okada rider) in
Ojuelegba and father of two is furious. Like many of his colleagues, he is
afraid of losing his source of income following the recent pledge made by the
Lagos State government to enforce its ban on okada riders operating on highways
in the state.
“Where is the highway?” he asked. “Or which one is the highway,
and which one is low way? Why can’t they let us be? Today, it is rider’s card.
Tomorrow, it is another thing. They should show us where to do okada.”
Announcing the ban, the Special Adviser to the governor on transportation,
Kayode Opeifa, said that the government would ensure a strict compliance to
traffic rules.
“These include the outright banning of okada on all major
highways, expressways and roads in the state, the restriction to one passenger
(per bike), total compliance to driving against traffic, and strict obedience
of traffic lights amongst others.
“The steps became necessary because of the need to control and
regulate the okada operations so as to reduce the alarming rate of avoidable
accidents and its attendant social implication,” he said.
Sweet and sour
Lagos residents greeted the ban with mixed feelings, with some
describing it as “very bad” but a “necessary evil”.
The financial secretary of the Ojuelegba unit of okada riders,
Ekong John, agreed that there was the need to bar some of the cyclists from
major roads but he differed with the generalisation of riders’ culpability.
“It is not advisable, especially when people have urgent
matters,” he said. “They need okada. You know that traffic is always high, and
it is only okada that can beat the traffic. The only problem we are facing is
that many Nigeriens and Chadians who claim to be Hausa are here, and they don’t
have okada sense. So people are generalising it. They are the ones giving okada
a bad name.”
Okada danger
Jide Owoyomi, a lawyer, said that he was aware of the danger
okadas pose on the highway. “Okada is a necessary evil,” he said. “Rather than
banning okada, the government should pass measures to make it safer. If you ban
okada, it is going to cause an incredible level of unemployment.”
For Emeka Okwuchukwu, only okada riders who violated traffic
rules should be banned. “As much as I will like some of these okada men to be
banned completely, I also want to see some of them who are very good to
continue,” he said.
“Sometimes, I go to work
with bike to beat the traffic, and you need to see how safety-conscious these
guys can be. I think we should do a proper check to decide what to do,
particularly about the bad ones.”
Suleiman Ibrahim and many of the cyclists who spoke to NEXT at
the Obalende motor park were not aware of the ban. They said they would wait
for a letter from the government or a meeting where the ban would be discussed
and the highways defined.
“I know nothing of the ban, and most of us live outside the
Island,” Mr. Ibrahim said. “If you stop us on the highway, how can we come to
work? It’s very bad and discouraging, especially when most of us have a lot of
mouths to feed and these long distances are where we make the money from.”
Not a new law
The head of operations for the Federal Road Safety Commission,
Lagos sector, Hyginus Omeje, said that the law restricting commercial
motorcycles from highways was not new in Nigeria.
“The laws have always been there,” he said. “Motorcycles are not permitted
on the express and highways. It’s only the heavy bikes used by the military and
paramilitary, or the power bikes that are allowed. The others are for
intra-city and local transportation.”