[sustran] Nigeria: The Ban on Okada

[Eric Britton]

Nigeria: The Ban on Okada

 

Daily
<http://allafrica.com/publishers.html?passed_name=Daily%20Trust&passed_location=
Abuja>  Trust (Abuja)

EDITORIAL
September 26, 2006
Posted to the web September 26, 2006

The federal capital authority has joined what appears to be the road sanity
train by banning the use of commercial motorcycles also known Okada. According
to an agreement between the union of Okada operators and the FCT authorities,
Okada operations would cease operation within the Abuja City Centre with effect
from October 1. The announcement must have come as a relief to road users
especially those who have had encounters with the menace of Okada operators.

In most Nigerian cities, commercial motorcycles were accepted into the mass
transit system to fill a vacuum created by the rural-urban drift which
culminated in overpopulation and the overstretching of available transport
facilities. All across the nation, the operation of commercial motorcycles have
created more problems than they were envisaged to solve - causing accidents and
resulting in traffic congestion. A large chunk of the motorcycles do not have
registration number plates. This makes it impossible to track them in the event
of accidents or use for criminal purposes.

Unfortunately, it so happens that the motorcycles are used for both purposes.
Okada riders flagrantly disobey traffic regulations by riding on the wrong side
of the road resulting in grievous accidents. What is most intriguing is that
whenever an accident occurs as a result of the recklessness of these operators,
they gather around the scene beat up motorists and commuters and sometimes
setting cars ablaze.

Statistics have revealed a gradual rise in the number of people maimed as a
result of Okada rides. Because most riders refuse to obey traffic laws,
accidents involving motorcycles are usually fatal, resulting either in death or
disability usually of the passengers that they carry.

Efforts by the road safety authorities to organise training workshops to help
enforce driving codes have yielded no useful result as majority of the Okada
operators are either not unionised or fail to turn up.

The few who come for such training soon lose the training they have acquired as
they return to the mainstream of operation. A good number of the riders are also
linked with drug use and abuse.

On the crime scene, the motorcycles have been used in street crimes such as bag
snatching. Robbers have been known to use Okada as getaway vehicles while
carrying out their nefarious activities and in some cases, they help thieves spy
on neighbourhoods while looking out for police posts as their criminal friends
carry on their activities with impunity.

The beauty of the Abuja ban is that for now, it is not total. Unlike other
government policies, the federal authorities have mobilised over a long period
to ensure that this policy does not come as a surprise.

Indeed, it has met with the leaders of the motorcycle operators who have agreed
to the restriction of their operations to the suburbs of the city. To fill the
vacuum and reduce the impact which would result from this ban, FCT authorities
have introduced mass transit buses into the city transport system. We salute the
courage of the ministry of the federal capital territory for this gesture. We
however advice that the new bus system is managed in such a way that it would
not end up like other government policies - a flash in the pan. We also commend
the operators for agreeing to withdraw from the city centre and urge them to
properly organise themselves in the suburbs and keep an eye out for each other
with a view to reporting the bad ones among them to the relevant authorities.

Since the duty of government is to provide jobs for the citizenry, we urge the
FCT authorities to go a step further by working with other relevant agencies to
ensure that those whose income would be affected as a result of this decision
have alternate jobs to keep body and soul together. This is premised on the
realisation that an idle brain is the devil's workshop. Now that Okada is almost
out of the scene, we hope that other road users would learn the discipline of
obeying road signs and rebulations to increase safety, reduce the carnage on our
roads and ease traffic congestion.

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200609260482.html

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