It is no longer news that the riding of motorbike aka Okada riding
has become a household name in the city of Lagos and beyond.
Transportation from one place to another in Lagos has experienced
a massive boost from place to place over the years since the Okada business
experienced boost in recent times, its history which can be traced back to
Benin as far back as the late eighties where it was ventured into as a survival
strategy due to the harsh economic situation introduced by the SAP structural
adjustment program that was supposed to help cushion the effect of the economic
downturn that has seen many graduates at all levels First Degree, HND and especially non graduates turn Okada riders.
Since then commercial motorcycling has come to stay not only in
Lagos but in most states of the country like Delta, Owerri, Ogun, PH, Ondo etc
and has enjoyed enormous patronage from people for a whole lot of reasons.
Apart from the obvious and easily identifiable reason as regards why Lagosians
have embraced commercial motorcycling as a welcome development which is in
pursuit of self-sustainability and poverty alleviation as the Okada riding is a
business that does not require special skills or special intelligence to be able to
venture into it, no tertiary education required, no training the basic
requirement is your willingness to survive and stay afloat.
In the city of Lagos Okada riders are ubiquitous and easily
accessible ,however despite been readily seen they come with a baggage of
issues and challenges both to the riders, the passengers and the society in
general. they have many times be seen to constitute a state of public nuisance
and discomfort to the riders and pedestrians in Lagos. They have grown into a
registered body of Association of Okada riders in the state and have a
structure that involves a chairman , secretary, treasurer etc by so doing have
stamped their feet as a body of people with a common goal and ambition.
However, even with the registered body of Okada riders and the
expectation that some level of decorum or comportment will be exhibited by the
Okada riders , it has been seen that this is usually a far cry from the
expected and some of the riders have become a menace and a source of nightmare
to the people due to their flagrant abuse of the laid down guidelines for their
operation in their respective states . They have constantly engaged in fracas
with the police and civil defense for flouting the directives little wonders
why this is the case ,perhaps this may be as a result of the openness of the
Okada market that allows any Tom and Harry to enroll provided he has access to
an Okada and is willing to ride.
Worrisome is the fact that many have been sent to untimely deaths
, some as permanent residents in the Igbobi orthopedic Hospital. Many have
their limbs amputated or completely cutoff, some are squatters with traditional
limb fixers as a result of the reckless riding of the Okada by the untrained
rider who only speeds in a bid to drop the passenger and to pick up another
with the intent to make more money again and again at the expense of careful
riding, some riders text on Okada while riding i almost fell victim of such, as the Okada man kept coming towards me after he first followed a one way
thankfully i was alert as he moved closer I realized he was busy texting so i
skillfully swerved and averted the imminent danger just at the stroke of time,
how fortunate for me because this is the order of the day and a very frightful
one.
Lagos state government on its own has played its part to ensure
that sanity is maintained in the society , the state has at a point banned Okada riding in the main metropolis , with restriction placed in major express
roads and link bridges , at a time they introduced and enforced the wearing of
helmet by both the riders and their passengers, they also enforced that the
maximum passenger for each rider at every instant will be 1:1 meaning no bike
rider is expected to carry more than 1 bike at a time , the government also
enforced the no movement for Okada in the major roads as from 10pm to further
reduce the accidents and criminality. however this is not the case these days
as there has been a total disregard of these laws especially the helmets and
the number of passengers that they carry at a time.
Nonetheless these noticeable vices are good reasons why the Okada
riding should be banned from the street of Lagos but for some merits
that the Okada still enjoys which ranges from their presence in most places
hence easily accessible, it helps to beat the daily traffic in Lagos and meet
up with critical appointments, it helps to maneuver terrible road pot holes
that will ordinarily pull out tires of your vehicles and most importantly a
source of livelihood to the teeming unemployed youths who see the Okada riding
as a sustainable means of living since it does not require much capital, does
not require power supply which is almost elusive to most people and where
available estimate billing makes live very difficult.
We urge the Okada riders
association to work more closely with the authorities especially the Federal
road safety corps (FRSC) to ensure that we have a safe road where the traffic
laws are adhered to as this will ensure that reckless riding is checked amongst
the riders and also that road worthy bikes( Okadas) are on the road , the
riders should wear id-cards with their name tags clearly seen as well. It is
evident that the riders have come to stay so we as a people need to fine tune
it and formalize their cooperate existence to enable them serve us properly and
prevent further accidents on our roads that have sent many to early graves, Eko
Oni baje o and God help Nigeria.
Author
Michael O@cocoinsights
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