The use of motorcycles for commercial purposes, popular called okada, has become prevalent in Nigeria. The okada phenomenon was borne out of the necessity to fill the yawning gap created by inadequate transportation facilities occasioned by the collapse of Nigeria’s transport system and infrastructure. However, since its debut about three decades ago, the okada mode of transport has proved to be very risky. It poses serious danger to the operators, their passengers, pedestrians, motorists and the society at large. Okada operations have also been blamed as being responsible, to a large extent, for the rising wave of crime and insecurity across the country. This is evident in the fact that armed robbers, insurgents, kidnappers, and other criminal elements, that make life miserable for other peace-loving and innocent
Nigerians, find the use of okada convenient in perpetrating their crime against humanity.
Consequently, many state governments including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have either restricted okada operations to designated areas or banned them out rightly. For instance, the FCT, Lagos, Kaduna, Cross River, Niger, Nasarawa, Kano, among other states, have restricted okada operations with the primary objectives of reducing the hazards they cause on the roads and curb the activities of criminals. However, given the nuisance value okada operations constitute to the security of the country as highlighted earlier it would appear their days are numbered as the federal government is also mulling the nationwide ban of okada operations.
Although, the Federal Ministry of Transport has denied any move by the federal government to ban okada operations across the country, it is apparent that major stakeholders in the transport sector under the auspices of the National Council on Transport have made proposal in that regard. The proposal for the ban, which was made at the recent council’s annual conference in Enugu, was one of the measures to ensure adequate provision of safe and secure means of transportation in the country. All the state commissioners for transport as well as directors and officials in the federal and state ministries of transport in the country, who attended the conference, were advised by the council to discourage the use of commercial motorcycles in their respective states, and to adopt safer and more efficient transport system.
While acknowledging the menace posed by okada, Blueprint cautions on the implications of its blanket ban in the country. This apprehension flows from the comatose state of Nigeria’s transport system, a situation the okada operations have come to remedy owing to the importance of transportation to the social, economic and political development of any nation. There is no gain saying the fact that the entire transport system is sliding on a downward gradient and could no longer provide vital links that would support socio-economic activities in a modern society. Unfortunately, successive governments have left the transport sector prostrate. Our transport sector is bedeviled by problems such as excessive government monopoly; grounded rail system whose services are more or less inefficient; obsolete and deficient transport policy; under-developed inland waterways transportation, ports and port services that leave much to be desired, and above all corruption.
We, therefore, advise the federal government against putting the cart before the horse. It should reinvigorate the transport sector before contemplating any ban on okada. It behooves on government to actualise its plans to resuscitate the transportation system, which includes development of rail transport services, rehabilitating of key trunk roads and welcoming investment in road construction and maintenance, and restoration of the lost glory of inland waterways transportation, capacity building and development, in line with global best practices. There is no doubt that an efficient, sustainable, affordable and environmentally friendly inter-modal transport system will inevitably lead to the gradual disappearance of okada.
