Commuters groan as Lagos govt enforces ban on ‘okada’ operations

 Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu

MANY commuters in some local governments (LGAs) and local council development areas (LCDAs) in Lagos State where the government has banned the operation of commercial motorcycles were compelled to trek long distances today as the enforcement of the ban took effect.

The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, had on May 18, 2022 announced a total ban of the operation of commercial motorcycles, widely known as okada, in some local government areas in the state with effect from June 1, 2022.

Sanwo-Olu made the pronouncement at a meeting with all Divisional Police Officers (DPOs) and Area Commanders in the state at the Lagos House, Ikeja.

The LGAs and LCDAs affected by the ban are Ikeja, Surulere, Eti-Osa, Mainland, Lagos Island and Apapa.

“This is the phased banning we are going to be embarking on so that others in the short while will begin to look for something else to do. We are giving the notice now, so you can begin your strategy. From the 1st of June, we want the okadas to be off these major roads,” the governor said.

The ban is coming in the wake of the gruesome murder of a sound engineer, David Imoh, allegedly by commercial motorcyclists in the Lekki axis of the state on May 16, 2022.

According to reports, Imoh and a friend, a saxophonist, were said to be involved in a disagreement over N100 with a commercial motorcyclist and were attacked by the rider’s colleagues, during which they killed Imoh.

Narrating her ordeal, Grace, the widow of the 37-year-old Imoh, said her husband was wrongly labelled as a ritualist and yahoo boy and was consequently lynched to death.

With the population of Lagos State bursting at the seams and the number of commercial buses in the metropolis inadequate to satisfy commuting demands, the ‘okada’ has been a respite. ‘Okada’ operators stream into the state in their tens of thousands, especially from the northern parts of the country, and from countries like Mali, Chad and Niger Republic. But with the service the ‘okada’ riders provide has come disorder, chaos and violence. The riders flout traffic laws brazenly, ride recklessly and often cause accidents, killing innocent victims and maiming many, and attacking motorists and other citizens at the drop of a hat, like they did to Imoh on May 16. Not satisfied with killing him, they burnt his body.

Public outcry over the incident galvanised the Sanwo-Olu administration into reviving the extant Lagos State Transport Reform Law of 2018, although with some modifications. The governor restricted the ban to only six local governments and local council development areas, but maintained the ban of ‘okada’ operations on highways and bridges.

When The ICIR went round today to monitor enforcement of the ban, it observed virtually a total compliance. Certain roads like Mile 12-Ojota, Oshodi-Mile 2, Ojodu-Agege, Ijora-Apapa, Ikeja Along and Yaba-Oyingbo-Idumota, where the operators could always be seen plying in their hundreds, even riding the wrong way (one-way), were empty of the menace. Also some bus stops, like Oyingbo, Ojodu-Berger, Yaba, Ikeja, Mile 2 and Apapa, which ‘okada’ operators always populated in their thousands were desolate of them today.

The ban affected thousands of commuters, whose mode of transportation to their various destinations had been the ‘okada’, as the number of commercial buses and taxis has always been inadequate to satisfy demand. Many commuters, many of them so accustomed to using the ‘okada’, were forced to trekking long distances to their destinations.

A male commuter, Kola Adewole, who works at the Apapa port, told The ICIR his experience. “This ban is a double-edged sword. Yes, okada riders are lawless and can be violent, but they have their very important uses. They invited the ban of their operations; they were becoming uncontrollable.

“The government was caught in a fix: leave them to get wilder or deal with them. I am suffering the agony now, walking to work. When have I done this kind of long trek? But then, what can I do?”

Another female commuter, who gave her name simply as Motunrayo, was  at the Mile 2 bus stop, a terminus notorious for criminal activities by hoodlums on motorcycles, wearing a long face. Her dilemma: how she would get to her destination at Mazamaza, a densely populated community in the Agboju-Amuwo LCDA. As Motunrayo lamented, trekking was like taking the death pill itself; she had never done any long distance trek all her life.

At the Akiode bus stop, located in Ojodu LCDA unaffected by the ban, okada riders operated from within the inner access roads and refused to venture onto the main Omole-Ojodu road for fear of the police. One of them told the ICIR that to the policemen, a bazaar had arrived and the ban would suddenly cover everywhere.

And, truly, at the junction of the main road were armed policemen, whose presence the commercial motorcycles must have seen to be entertaining such a fear.

At the Berger bus stop, the situation was no different as members of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) were deployed to also support the traffic situation. ‘Okada’ riders plying Akute, a heavily populated town bordering Lagos and Ogun states where many workers working in even far Lagos Island and Victoria Island reside, also stayed far from the major bus stop, their normal terminus.

Many passengers who wanted to patronise them had to walk, at least, five minutes into the inner access streets to take the service. Many others just gave in to trekking long distances to their destinations.

At Agege, also unaffected by the ban, the commercial motorcyclists were allowed to run their usual operations. But some of them who spoke to The ICIR still expressed their disappointment with the ban, saying the government did not provide alternatives for them to earn livelihoods.

One ‘okada’ rider, Moses Esha, said he and his colleagues had not been able to operate at ease since morning without fear of arrest.

Esha said, “We all knew that they banned motorcycles from the roads, but we are finding our way around it. But now they banned it everywhere now, there is no fixed road that I can work.”

He explained that he usually plied Agege to Berger and Ikeja, but with the ban, those places were out of it for him. He said that he can only operate in places like Berger and Alausa, and that would be achieved only by, he alleged, greasing the palms of law enforcement officers. He has consequently jacked up his fares.

He said, “I wanted to go to Berger, but if a passenger cannot pay N1,500 or N2,000, I am not going anywhere. Even Alausa that we are carrying N300, we have changed the price to N500. That is, two persons will be N1000 instead of N600. I go with fear and one mind.”

His colleague, Arabambi, predicted that there would be a ripple effect of this policy on traders and commuters alike.

“Everybody knows it would affect everyone, including traders and buyers. Many riders are so scared and they did not come out today,” he told The ICIR.