Political considerations and inescapable mobility hassles thwart efforts to cage Okada in Lagos, writes Special Correspondent, Sam Nwokoro.
Scene one: It is 6.45pm on a Friday evening. George Ude, a factory worker at Apapa wharf, is homebound after the day’s work. But the gridlock, right from the wharf gate through the Apapa-Oshodi expressway, is overwhelming.
Okada riders picking up passengers at peak hours
Ude manages to walk from the gate to Coconut bus stop. He gets tired. Every vehicle is full to capacity. A thousand other passengers are standing on the kerb flagging down anything moving on wheels, not minding the risk of falling victim to kidnappers and ritualists on the prowl these days.
No commercial vehicle stops. There is no respite until an Okada (motor cycle taxi) comes to the rescue. Ude parts with N,1000 to ride on it from Coconut to Oshodi bus station.
Even at that, the gridlock all the way stretches the journey for almost an hour instead of 20 minutes.
Scene two: Time is 6.30am on a Monday morning. Pius Okon, a construction worker, heads for Victoria Island, his work place. He cannot get any BRT bus even as early as 7.30am. So he takes an Okada at a cost of N1, 200 to drop him at CMS bus stop on Lagos Island, to link Victoria Island.
Scenes like these are replicated all over Lagos daily, proving the indispensability of Okada in the transport system.
Boom and hazard
Transportation problem in Lagos got worse in the early 2000s following the scrapping of the Lagos City Transport Corporation. Molue (poorly built buses) took over, but they have since been confined to the Oshodi-Sango route, resulting in the boom in Okada, and later Keke Marwa (tricycle taxis).
It is estimated that 23,000 motorcycles were imported into Nigeria in 2010 alone, excluding those assembled locally in assembly plants and makeshift mechanic villages.
Lately, especially since the implosion of migrants and commuters in the metropolis, the insufficiency of taxis and buses has become acute, escalating the necessity of Okada.
At a time, the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation estimated that more than a million Okadas operated in Lagos. The number of early risers and late night commuters contributed to the boom.
Enactment of traffic law
Governor Babatude Fashola signed the Lagos State Traffic Law into effect on August 2, 2012. The highlights include setting up the Lagos State Vehicle Registration Agency, Motorcycle and Tricycle Registration and Licensing Agency, and driving schools.
It covers safety, fitness, road awareness, and certification of Okada – to curb road accidents, loss of lives and limbs, and overstretching health facilities, as well as stop armed robbery carried out by motorcyclists.
The law bars Okada from 475 routes and prescribes sanctions against operators and passengers who fail to wear helmet on approved routes.
The law recommends eye test and health certification for Okada riders and lists various categories of fees for hackney permit.
Initially, the operation of Okada was restricted to 7am to7pm but people called for a review of the law, and the Okada Riders Association (ORA) challenged it in court, citing violations of human rights and the Federal Highway Act.
Before the case was decided in court, the state government reviewed the law and reduced restricted routes from 475 to about 200. However, the government retained the clause on the use of helmet and apron by Okada riders.
100% enforcement not feasible
A combination of political and human considerations as well as other sundry social pressures made the government to water down the implementation of the law.
The law had been felt immediately it came into effect. One media account said “some 2,000 Okada riders were rounded up, their bikes confiscated. Those who could afford the N10,000 minimum penalty went to bail their machines.”
Godwin Nwankwere, an Okada operator recounted that “I did not know that they were serious with what we were hearing. They caught me and I had to bail my machine with N10,000. But the full penalty is N20,000.
“I stopped operating Okada since that day. One could be arrested over permit, helmet, passenger, and this or that. If I could only operate between 7am and 7pm, how could I make enough money?
“On top of that, I still had to make returns of N6,000 daily to the owner of the motorcycle from whom I rented it. I could not cope, and just quit.”
Many like Nwankwere who could not make that choice left Lagos. There was a horde of emigration, especially of Hausa Okada riders into the neighbouring states of Ogun and Oyo.
The Lagos government had justified the law by saying that Okada caused road accidents and added to the cost of subsidised medical service.
However, during the membership drive of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos in 2013, the restriction on Okada routes was not enforced.
Occasionally, police would round up violators and roll their bikes to the nearest police station or office of the Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA) where the bikes were bailed sometimes for less than half the N10,000 fine for failure to wear helmet.
These days, the use of helmet is hardly enforced.
Sometimes plain clothe Okada law enforcement agents or some wearing official aprons or ordinary folks enforce it by collecting N50 from violators, and pocketing the money.
Hussein, who operates Okada between Idiaraba and Ojuelegba in the metropolis, said “law enforcement agents are no longer harsh on us. Before, if we sighted a police vehicle, we would go into hiding. If you were caught, you had to bail your machine.”
Helmets are not readily available any more, unlike when the law first came into effect. Now, one costs between N6,000 and N8,000 against the old price of between N4,500 and N7,000 between 2012 and 2013, depending on quality.
“We don’t make much money nowadays because of the reduction in the number of routes we ply. The number of Okadas has increased because of the coming election. We know that the government will not enforce the law and chase us.
“We know that from now till the election in 2015, the government will not disturb Okada operators because many of us have registered to vote.”
But state Transportation Commissioner, Kayode Opeifa, insisted that the law on wearing helmet has not been abolished.
Okada voting power
Okada, Marwa and other private transport operators constitute the largest block of overs after market men and women, and church and mosque goers.
An Okada operator, Mashele Babangida, said “the APC knows that we put them in Alausa (the seat of the Lagos State government). Nobody operates Okada on an election day. We voted for the politicians in Alausa in 2007 and 2011.”
However, a transport operator, who gave his name simply as Tunde, argued that “the state government is being conscious of public safety. Okada is not different from other transport modes in the state.
“People have to change their old ways. I don’t think they have repealed the law on crash helmet, hackney permit and other protective devices which I believe are meant for the good of everybody.
“We should know the behaviour of governments. Fashola has made what he believes is a good law for public safety as a leader. But if social circumstances hinder the law from working effectively, then it is not his fault because he has done what is ideal.”
Move to amend the law
News broke on Wednesday, August 13, that Fashola had sent a letter to the state House of Assembly to review the Traffic Law 2012, especially as it pertains to Okada and private commercial bus operators.
Ten lawmakers tabled a motion to review the law to approve more routes for Okada operators.
The news was greeted with jubilation by Okada and Danfo (mini bus) operators in parks and on highways.
Observers see the latest move as one of the measures taken by the APC to retain control of Nigeria’s most populous, cosmopolitan, and richest state by internally generated revenue.