For a long time, he had enjoyed his journeys on motorbikes such that it became an addiction. But a close shave with an accident was to later change his choice of transportation. Aleem Murtala, a librarian with a leading news magazine, boarded a motorbike, popularly called okada and getting to a junction around Alausa Secretariat, he had to re-enact the ‘spider man’ diving antics. “The okada rider wanted to enter a bend, but due to over speeding, he could not. I had to fly off the bike since it was apparently heading for the gutter. That was my last time of riding on okada”, Murtala explained.
Similarly, for Seun Alade, a young school leaver, the fear of okada is the beginning of wisdom. After series of okada accidents that has seen him in and out of several local and orthodox hospitals for treatment of a fracture he sustained on okada, taking a ride on a motorbike now, no matter how short the distance, is unthinkable. If Murtala and Alade were lucky to escape with injuries, then Adio Olaleke, an artisan, was not that lucky since his story on okada was told by witness at the scene of the fatal crash involving the motorbike he was riding on and a speeding vehicle.
According to witness at the scene of the accident at Oremeji Bus Stop along Alagbole/Akute Road, in Ifo Local Government, Ogun State, the okada carrying Olaleke was trying to outrun a speeding car, and in the process, rammed into a culvert by the roadside. While the passenger lost his life, the okada rider sustained a ‘mere’ fracture. A visit to the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, and other hospitals reveals sad stories of young lives cut short, or maimed for life by the carelessness and sometimes overzealousness of the okada riders who believe that they have a right of way in every traffic situation. Therefore, for Lagos okada riders, patience is a relic word.
Indeed, on daily basis, Lagosians have had to contend with the menace that okadas have constituted on the roads. For instance, Manny Phillipson, a journalist, said driving a good car on the street of Lagos now gives much concern. This is because no matter how careful the driver is, he would always have an encounter with okada riders. Phillipson recalled that less than two weeks after he bought his brand new Kia Cerato, he soon became a customer of a spray painter, courtesy of the scratches made on his car by okada riders. Last week, along Marina, an okada rider ran into a Mercedes Benz 500 SEL, breaking its rear light. The rider escaped, ably assisted by his colleagues.
Across the length and breadth of the country, okada riders are generally seen to exhibit unruly behaviours in most instances. Mayowa Sodipo, a project consultant, narrated his experience in the hands of okada riders. According to Sodipo, though his car was hit by an okada rider from the side, other riders where soon to join their colleagues in the melee that ensued and subsequently damaged his car. Sodipo was rescued by policemen on patrol that day.
Several factors account for the menace of okada riders. Findings by Broad Street Journal revealed that over 80 per cent of riders are not competent or well-trained in the art of riding. In fact, our investigations showed that most riders, especially of the northern extract, on arrival in Lagos, are given motorcycle to ride with b barely three days of learning. This writer would not forget the permanent scar left on his nose and beneath his eye, resulting from an injury sustained on an okada ridden by an untrained rider. Bright Endurance, secretary, Motorcycle Operators Association, MOALS, Ikeja Railway Line Unit, attributes this trend to the unemployment rate in the country. According to him, some riders join the okada business out of the need for survival, hence, they fail to undergo proper training. He blamed the rate of accidents involving okadas on carelessness and recklessness. “Besides, most okada operators do not know nor respect traffic signs, and it is unfortunate. We tell our unit members to obey the rules and ride to stay alive always”, Endurance explained.
Although the state government has enacted laws to curb the recklessness on the road, they have been severally violated. Part of the rules spelt out that, "carrying of more than one passenger is prohibited: any motorcycle driver who carries more than one passenger may be arrested and prosecuted and the motorcycle impounded. Multiple passengers on motorcycle is a common practice adopted by armed robbers; "Driving without a valid drivers’ licence is an offence: If you drive a motorcycle without a valid driver’s licence, you are liable to a fine of N5,000 and such motorcycle or tricycle is liable to be impounded; "Riding on Bus Rapid Transit dedicated lanes: If you ride a motorcycle, tricycle or any vehicle on BRT dedicated lane at any time and on any day, you are liable to a fine of N25,000 or one month imprisonment upon conviction or both and such motorcycle, tricycle or vehicle is liable to be impounded; "Re "Restriction of motorcycles and tricycles during certain hours: In the interest of public safety and security, there shall be restrictions to movements of commercial motorcycles in Lagos to be announced from time to time", among others. But perhaps the most flagrantly abused of the laws is that on driving against traffic and the use of helmet.
Tijani Perkins, Lagos State chairman, MOALS, is satisfied with the regulations, claiming they are in tune with the safety measures already adopted by the association. His members, he insisted, are responsible people interested in the security of lives and property as well as in keeping to government rules and regulations. The safety measures the association has introduced, he highlighted to include the enforcement of the use of helmets by the okada rider and his passenger, must not use car stereo on his bike, must not drive against traffic, and close by 10pm daily. Perkins believes that imposing a N5,000 fine on those that drive against traffic was not sufficient punishment, insisting that such offenders need to be dragged to psychiatric hospital to ascertain their level of sanity.
Both Perkins and Endurance agreed that a handful of persons may use okada to rob, but they contend that those involved are not real okada riders. “A true okada man does not rob people. All duly registered and genuine okada operators in the over 1,000 units in the state are not involved in armed robbery as they operate with the association’s identity cards. It is unfortunate that the society views okada riders that way” Endurance said.
Last week, along the Ojodu/Berger axis, just beside the Federal Road Safety Commission, FR FRSC, office, officials of the commission laid siege for okada riders, and in the process, arrested several riders for offences bordering on failure to use helmet, overloading, among others. At the commission’s premises, which also house the vehicle inspectorate unit of the ministry of transportation, over 500 motorcycles arrested were parked. Though no official comment came from the commission, a source, who pleaded anonymity, explained that for long, okada riders have had a field day, but now the law must take its course. Besides, he said that the revenue target must be met and to do that, all efforts must be put in. The failure to implement the law fully has also created a honey pot for some unscrupulous law enforcement agents, who extort money from okada riders.
Though there have been calls for government to ban okadas, it would be very difficult to actualise this, if only for economic reasons. For instance, the over 1,000 units of okada operators in the state, according to Endurance, accommodates over three million motorcycles. Each rider buys a ticket of minimum of N40 daily from the local government it operates; this amounts to N120 million in revenue generated daily by all the local governments council in the state from okada riders.
Though government may be raking in much money from the operators daily, except an okada owner rides the motorbike himself, he would not derive any monetary gain. This is because, the highest amount delivered to an okada owner is N700 daily, even though the rider could make over N4,000 within the same period. Depending on the model, price of an okada range between N75,000 and N95,000.
Murtala and Alade: Luc Lucky to escape death on Okada
Olaleke: Did not live to tell his story
Motorbikes: Becoming a necessary evil?
Sodipo: Recalls his experience
Endurance: Blames rate of okada accidents on recklessness
Perkins: In tune with safety measures Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|
