Residents On Menaces, Merits Of Okada Business In Lagos

Millions of residents of Lagos State ride on either private or commercial motorcycles, popularly known as Okada, to their places of work on daily basis thus making it another common means of transportation.

It has indeed become an integral part of many because of its uniqueness in a city-state characterised by traffic snarl or ‘go slow’ fondly caused by visible and invisible reasons such as impatience on the part of drivers, bad roads, and autocrash on the major roads.

Some correspondents of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) sought reactions of the residents of Lagos State to the ‘menaces and merits of Okada business in Lagos’ and their comments and remarks were an admixture of sweet and sorrow.

Mr Boluwaji Olaiya, a resident of Ibafo in Ogun who works in the Gbagada Area of Lagos State said that he was fond of riding Okada from Ibafo to Berger, the boundary between Lagos and Ogun, so as to avoid the gridlock along that axis of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway during the working days of the week.

Olaiya said that in less than 30 minutes, he was always at Berger Bus Stop and that used to save him a lot of time, tear and wear as well as the stress passengers who boarded public uses usually encountered during ‘go slow’ on the express.

” When the long bridge axis of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressroad was under construction, there were some of us that riding on Okada was the only means of getting to Lagos from Ibafo and its environs. The rider then was charging us N500.00 per passenger and he would transport two of us down on each trip.”

Also, Mr Dele Aboyeji, a building contractor living in Papa Asese area of Ogun and who has his office in the Surulere area of Lagos State said that on occasions when there were gridlock on the Lagos- Ibadan Expressway, Okada used to be his ‘saviour’s.

“I would mount it from Berger to Warewa in Ogun while returning home in the evening or going to work in the morning.

“There were times then that most passengers caught up in the traffic were robbed. That was a nasty experience which nobody will want to pray for,” Aboyeji said.

To Mr Oye Luquman, Okada is a thriving business and many able young men ride it as a means of livelihood and are today their families’ breadwinners. He added that its introduction as a means of transportation had helped in reducing unemployment in Lagos State.

He added that politicians always give out motorcycles to youths during political campaigns meaning that it had come to stay as part of the society’s means of making ends meet

According to Luquman, just as the youth use it for commercial purposes so also the elderly use it to transport their produce from the rural areas to the Expressway where they would find buyers for them.

Similarly, Mr James Dada who uses his okada to transport bags of cement to building sites under construction in Ijedodo area of the state said that it had been a source of survival for his family for several years running now.

” Normally on a good day, I make as much as five thousand naira by using my bike to carry cement from where prospective landlords buy them to their sites. I am self-employed and I am enjoying it.

” On each trip depending on the distance, I carry between four and five bags on my bike. The person that hires my bike pays me N100.00 to transport a bag each to his or her site,” he said.

However, since there are two sides to a coin and different stroke to different folks, okada business is riddled with menaces or dangers from the reactions of others who spoke to NAN on the issue.

Mr Ovie Edomi, the Publisher of South-South International Magazine, based in Badagry, Lagos State, said the menaces associated with Okada and their riders in Lagos State were numerous.

First, Lagos, aside from being a mega city, is seen as one of the commercial cities in the world, where people get to and can find something doing to survive. One can secure menial jobs with ease in Lagos and that is one of the things that attracts a large number of young adults to the city.

“As for Okada riding in Lagos, Lagos is seen as a melting pot for young persons from different parts of the country particularly Northerners, who have been displaced by bandits, and found their ways to Lagos to join the Okada business.

“This is so because there are no regulations for riders. Again no profiling of operators is carried out.
Consequently, anyone can be an Okada rider and that on its own is dangerous.

“Equally dangerous is the threat that Okada operations poses to Lagos as a megacity and as one of the world most popular cities. Some of the threats are: accident cases which are on the increase, stealing of valuable items from those who ride on Okadas and so on.”

He added that there was the dis-organisation of the transportation system in the state that had resorted to environmental degradation.

Edomi said that the state needed a strong security network to police the streets of Lagos and stop the menaces of Okada operators.

Mr Podo Sunday, a Public analyst, living in Badagry said that the menaces of Okada riders were not jus to Badagry but to the major cities and towns across the country.

He, however, said the influx of strange commercial motorcyclists into Badagry communities had become a source of worry to many residents due to their reckless and aggressive dispositions at the slightest provocation.

Sunday said most of the riders were “paid agents” of soldiers around Badagry,alleging that they own majority of the motorcycles operating around there.

” Some of the soldiers own between 10 and 15 commercial motorcycles in Badagry, and they used to recruit young boys to operate them.

” In some cases and by agreement, the soldiers used to lease the bikes out to young boys by installment at double or triple the cost price as the case may be.

“The soldiers then act as backups to the riders who have no regards for either the local government revenue officials or the leaders of Okada riders union.

“And during altercations with officials or members of the public, before you say Jack Robinson, some soldiers would appear to intervene on behalf of the riders they had leased their motorbikes to with the motive to secure the bike and the rider, and not to ensure justice is served.

“This act has become a recurring decimal in Badagry communities.

“I think the Lagos State Government and the Nigeria Police are not doing enough to control this growing menace of lawless riders and their owners.

“They should nip it in the bud before it snowballs into full scale community clash one day,” he said.

Also, Alhaji Abdul-Rasak Osho, the President, Iporin Housing Estate, Surulere, a Community Development Area (CDA), alleged that majority of the okada riders are usually given bikes immediately they arrive Lagos.

“If you observe, you will see that a very large percentage of the riders get their motorcycles from the Police and army junior officers hence you’ll see some of their machines decorated with military/police flag colors hence the support for their lawlessness.

“If you observe, you will see that the way they ride against traffic and the way they act on the highway with impunity presuppose that they have the backing of the law enforcement agents.

“It is only when there are special operations that you’ll see the law enforcement agents in action. So, CDAs can only man their communities and not the main roads or high ways; they cannot do the job of the Police or other law enforcement agents.

“My suggestion is for the government to give the law enforcement agents a very good welfare package and keep the Okada riders off the road,” he said.

However, the spokesperson of 81 Division, Nigerian Army (NA), Maj. Olaniyi Osoba , told NAN when he was asked for the reactions of the NA on the allegations that the allegations were only based on ear-say from the street and not on facts from constituted authorities.

Osoba said that if it were the Lagos State Taskforce that was accusing the NA of such a conduct, then the NA would have been compelled to react based on facts from a constituted authority.

“However, this is not the case but an assumption from an ear-say. How can the street know what transpired ?

“The accusations are assumptions and not based on facts and therefore, they cannot be true,” he said.

Also, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Police Command in Lagos State, CSP Benjamin Hundeyin, told NAN when it sought the reactions of the command to the allegations thus, “I am not aware of these allegations”.

There were reactions also from the grassroots. Mr Felix Godonu, the President, Hengo Badagry Association, said the menace of commercial motorcyclists popularly known as okada riders in Badagry Local Government and its environs had become unbearable.

Godonu said that the unfortunate thing was that governments at both state and local government levels had failed in checkmating them.

“They are so reckless and lack knowledge of the highway code. And as such, they have become a threat to their passengers and other road users.

“The rate at which these scary-looking beings from only-God-knows where flock Badagry in the last three years is alarming and calls for worry.

“They have also become a nightmare in the neighbourhood as their mission is beyond operating commercial motorcycling, they gather in large numbers in strategic places at night.

“Their recklessness on the road had sent many innocent people to the General Hospital and other medical homes.

“They cause trouble at the slightest argument even when they are at fault. They are serious security threats to residents,” he said.

According to him, the government needs to step up on enforcement to clip the excesses of okada riders that have been operating on every road despite the restrictions by the state government that they must not ply the major roads in the state.

They behave as if they’re above the law, Godonu said.

Dr Olatunde Bakare, the Medical Director, Badagry General Hospital, said that accidents caused through Okada were always very fatal, urging the state government to enforce strict punishment for any Okada rider that did not put on the crash helmet or carry more than one passenger while in transit.

Bakare said that though they had been barred from operating in some roads in Lagos but they were still found riding recklessly on those roads

Mr Sulaiman Taiwo, the Unit Commander, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Badagry, said that a directive had come from the FRSC headquarters in Abuja to educate Okada riders on the need for them to obtain the requisite driving licence.

Taiwo said that any motorcycle that is not registered would be confiscated by the command, adding that the command would meet the union leaders of the okada riders before enforcing all these directives.

Also speaking to NAN, the Chairman Ikorodu Local Government(LG), Mr Wasiu Adesina, said that the menace of commercial motorcycle was becoming a nightmare to the residents of Lagos and its numerical strength becoming more frightening as well as serving as a security risk to residents.

Adesina said due to the increase in insecurity, the local government leadership had to rejig its security architecture by initiating a joint taskforce and providing patrol vehicles for surveillance to ease movements of security personnel in all the communities within the LG.

Adesina said that the council had to also establish a taskforce during his first tenure to restrict the movements of motorcycles since he realised that most crimes were being perpetrated with the use of motorcycles for easy escape.

” The taskforce was initiated to restrict motorcycle from some parks and routes but the outbreak of COVID–19 pandemic in 2020 and the subsequent challenges after easing the lockdown affected the work of the taskforce.

“They stopped work and later continue, so our work in curbing the menace is still ongoing,” he said.

However, sometime last year , the Lagos State Government announced some specified roads where it said that commercial motorcyclists were restricted from plying and warned that erring defaulters would be dealt with, he said. He urged the relevant security agencies to enforce thd rule.

The council boss said that the directive had led to some of them finding alternative routes and took solace in deploying their business in the rural areas of the state.

“We are still doing our work, we hold security meetings regularly to discuss security matters which include the menace caused by the influx of motorcycle into our local council area.

“We also discuss the way forward out of the crisis and come up with resolutions which I have been enforcing as the chairman to ensure that my people can sleep with their two eyes closed.

According to the chairman, the LG is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring safety of lives and properties, so we will not rest until Ikorodu is safe for investors and residents.

Also Mr Sesan Oduolowu, Chairman, Sheriff Community Development Association (CDA ) in Ikorodu, said that it had come to the knowledge of the residents that motorcycle was the common instrument used by criminals to escape after attacking innocent citizens.

Oduolowu said in this regard, most CDA chairmen had agreed to ensure that Okadas were not allowed to enter any community after 8.00 p.m. adding that some even made theirs 7.00p.m.

He said that they had jointly agreed that the communities should ensure that they handled the security of their various communities by themselves by hiring private guards to secure them.

“We hold our meetings every month and have agreed to engage ourselves on intelligence gathering as well as ensure that commercial motorcyclists are banned from entering the community in the evening time as well as hire private security guards on our own for the safety of our people,” he said.

Mr Owolabi Efunsanya, a resident in the CDA said that the increasing number of motorcycles was as a result of lack of job or unemployment with bad road and incessant traffic jam.

Efunsanya urged government as a major employer of labour to create employment opportunities and enabling environment for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) to thrive to augment available opportunities.

He said that the government should focus more on ensuring that more youths were engaged rather than giving priorities to other sectors , while stressing that a lazy man’s brain is the devil’s workshop.

“Unemployment is a major cause of increase in crime because ‘an empty mind is a devil’s workshop’ if there is job, crime will be reduced.”

An officer with a transport union who pleaded anonymity said that government had a big role to play in checkmating the excesses caused by commercial motorcycle operators.

He said that accidents caused by Okada riders had sent some people to their early graves while some were still suffering from the injuries caused them that had led to the amputation of with their legs or other parts of their bodies.

He urged government to ban the importation of motorcycles into the country completely, saying they had become an important instrument used by hoodlums, bandits and terrorists to commit all sorts of crimes in the country.

Also, some residents of Fagbile Estate, Ijegun, a suburb of Lagos, said that some armed robbers under the guise of Okada riders had formed the habit of frequently attacking the residents of the estate

They told NAN in Lagos that they now live in fear due to the activities of suspected robbers.

They urged the relevant security forces to do all within their powers to crackdown on the motorbike robbers.

Mr Emmanuel Edun said that two robbery attacks occurred in the estate in a single morning alone recently.

According to him, a young lady was robbed of her handbag, containing some valuables along Fagbile Road in the early hours of that unfortunate day.

Edun said that the robbers usually attacked women in lonely corners where they would dispossess them of their cell phones, ATM cards and other valuables.

Another resident, Mr Bartho Philip, said that a young man was recently robbed of his motorcycle in the early hours of the day not long ago in Rotimi Omotosho Street.

According to him, three young men allegedly had been surveying the area with their motorbike apparently in search of their target.

“After ridding about for some time, they stopped at the intersection between Omotosho Street and Amoje Street.

“One of them came down from the bike and brought out what looked like a locally-made gun, pointed it at the owner of the bike, snatched it and took away the bike.

” While this was going on, one of them started the bike that they came with while the second followed the guy with the gun and they all ride off,” Phillip said.

NAN gathered that the rider of the bike had collected it on higher purchase arrangement from its owner for N650, 000. (NAN)