RAGING WAR AGAINST COMMERCIAL MOTORCYCLE OPERATORS
A trip to the National Orthopedic hospital, Igbobi, Lagos will reveal a
pathetic situation of victims of Okada accidents. Destinies altered as
many on clutches cried in pain as a result of severe orthopedic
injuries, while others with spinal cord injuries groan helplessly on
wheel chairs.
Before the October 20 government restriction of Okada on highways in
Lagos, about 65-70 percent of accident victims who have varying degrees
of bone injuries were said to have been caused by Okada accidents.
Many also believe that the fly-on attitude of the operators
especially on the highways constitute grave danger to the lives of other
road users just as they were seen to flout traffic rules at every
point.
But not many see the decision of government to restrict the
operations of Okada especially on the highways as a welcome development.
Mr.
Kayode Opeifa, Commissioner for Transport and Gov Fashola
While some argue that it will further compound the problem of
movement of people from one point to another bearing in mind the
inadequate public transportation system especially when commuting from
the highways to the hinterlands; others opined that it will further
worsen the problem of unemployment as many of them will be thrown out of
jobs. Others on the other hand see the government approach from the
perspective of ensuring safety and sanity on the roads.
Reacting to some of these views, the Commissioner of Transport, Mr.
Kayode Opeifa said the decision was taken by the people of Lagos.
“Everyday, the traffic situation in Lagos keep rising and we all the
time stressed the security facilities in the state.
The people of the state keep telling us that the traffic and safety
situation are not getting any better with the Okadas still on the road.
On September 5, after the signing the traffic bill into law, we had an
agreement with the unions of Okada where they requested for three
things. One, that we should delay the implementation time, a review of
some of the roads; and a request to meet the Governor.”
He explained that the roads on which Okada have been restricted are
all major highways, the dual carriage roads and some single lane roads
in the list of the 475 roads. According to him, “these are the roads we
have adequate transport system.
Some were added by the Local government authorities. So, it is not
that the executive sat and took the decision, it was in collaboration
with the CDAs, the Local Government authorities, and when it got to the
House of Assembly, they also took out some and added some.
So, what we have is a collective agreement of the views of the people
of Lagos. We also indicated that in all these roads, should there be a
situation, where there is lack of public transportation, the Hon
Commissioner should review,” he stated.
Opeifa opined that Okada has since remained unregulated simply
because it had never been part of the public transportation system. “It
arose as a result of social economic issues. It started with Babangida
administration and since then it remained unregulated. Akwa Ibom state
tried to regulate it, designing helmets, jackets, but they later stopped
it.”
Contrary to the claim of outright ban of Okada in Lagos, the
transport Commissioner stated that it was not an outright ban, it was a
restriction. “We have not banned motorcycle out rightly; we have only
restricted them on 475 out of 9,100 roads.
It means it is just about 6 per cent of roads in Lagos are
restricted. These are dual carriage roads, major roads and other roads
we have public transportation system. Reeling out some of the roads, he
noted that Ikorodu road, Mile 12, Ojota, Mobalaji Bank Anthony, Awolowo
road, Ogunlana drive, Adeniran Ogunsanya, 3rd Mainland Bridge, Eko
Bridge, are unsafe for Okada operations. “…aside the fact that there is
public transportation on these roads, they are not safe for a vehicle
that is not protected.
Motorcycle is not protected. If somebody touches you while on motion,
you may fall and that may be fatal.
We don’t want any more deaths on
our roads. If we can prevent it, why not do that,” he explained.
Harping on safety, he said: “I doubt if there is any family who has
not had injury as a result of Okada or any one whose friend or
acquaintance has not had Okada accident.”
One of the arguments by the Okada operators is that they were used
for the election and dumped thereafter, distributing helmets to them
before the April 2011 election.
Reacting to this, the commissioner said: “Giving helmet is what we
hold as a social responsibility and there are a lot of companies that we
have encouraged to give them helmet. It is meant towards ensuring that
they are safe when operating. And that is what section 3 of this law
says.
So, we have not done anything strange in January to April 2011. So,
if you need to do the business, you must be encouraged to operate
safely,” he stated.
He wondered why the hullabaloo on the government step towards
ensuring safety of people in the state when some other states have tried
it and outrightly banned it. “Some states like Kwara, Delta, Rivers
state including FCT, have all done it.
While these states were banning them, they came down to Lagos and we
did not say,’ no, don’t operate. What we said is that there must have to
be restriction. We have not banned okada but we have only restricted
their operations.
I know no one will like to have his child on motor bike on the
highway. It is unsafe and unreliable,” he noted.
On the problem of inadequate public transportation which could have
assuaged the pains of movement from one place to another, the
Commissioner analysed thus: “We have over 7000 yellow buses on Lagos
roads, we also have 1500 Bus Rapid Transport, by our calculation, they
pick about 1.5million people moving at a time.
This occurs at the rush hour between 7am and 9am, after then, many of
them go to Ojuelegba, Oshodi, Ojota to park. So, we don’t have to keep
increasing the number of buses. It depends on the demand and supply
theory.
And even in the rush hour, people move in one direction and vehicle
most times will not want to come back empty. So, we have to apply what
is called special redistribution of resources.
You will not get to equilibrium. Let me give you this analysis, if
you leave for Marina, through the busiest road in Lagos which is
3rd Mainland bridge, because it moves, it takes you about one hour from
Ikeja to Victorial Island. When you are coming back around 4:45pm, it
will take you about 45 minutes.
You will go through traffic at four points and spend about 5 minutes
at each point and to you it looks like three hours. I have tried it
several times. Each time I tried it, I call the traffic radio. The issue
is that we are too much in a hurry.”
He agrees that lack of training is part of the reasons why Okada
operators consistently flout traffic rules. He insisted that the
manufacturers of the okada never intended it for passenger movement,
adding: “regardless of the training they had, the urge to make more
money set in, so, they become aggressive.
That is why you always see them always in a hurry.” and that is why
on some of the busiest roads like Allen, we have restricted them.
They requested for an extension of time for them to fully comply with
the law. The second thing they asked for was a review of the road,
asking to be allowed on single carriage roads, (inside the
neighbourhood) pending the time they will finally find their way out;
while their third request was that they wanted to see the governor.
On the issue of extension, on September 5, we meet every Friday,
until October 20 and on the roads, we asked them to go and study the
roads and pick the ones they want and come back to us. So far only the
Alimosho branch signaled interest asking for Abaranje and Iliyasu roads.
They also requested to meet with the governor, and they all met him
except one of them, ANACOWA. And the rest said they were more convinced
why they should leave the road.
The organised Okada group was not involved. There are two unions –
Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria, (RETREAN) and NURTW.
There are other ones who are not recognised and yet they collect dues.
You cannot collect dues when you are not a trade union under the Trade
Union Act.
So, some of them stayed away out of power struggle. The one led by
one Aliyu, ANACOWA is not recognised, he is not known in Lagos, he is
not even known in Abuja where he claims he has authority to operate in
Lagos.”
“When the governor met with them, we gave them the
option of agriculture where we train graduates for one year, and at the
end of the training, we provide them land and we give them money.
The third session training is currently going on. We also gave them
the option of skill acquisition. We have 17 skill acquisition centres in
Lagos.
Then the third option is the micro finance, we have gotten some few
ones who have shown interest already. We told them to go back to their
union, and introduce these things and come back with the list of
interested persons, we will train them and set them up,” he explained.
On the enforcement of the law and seized bikes, he said, it is not
true that bikes seized were crushed. “That is not true, no bike was
crushed. The law is clear on this matter and we are going to do what the
law says.”
