Lagos State government is expected to launch a new transportation policy on Tuesday, with the governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, making a big announcement on okada operation in the state.
If he decides on a statewide ban, the direction in which everything is pointing is expected to follow in days ahead, with serious socio-economic and even political implications and consequences.
In an interview, the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, gave hints to know that it is already morning for okada riders in the state who, over the time, had become notorious for deadly mob actions, jungle justice and societal nuisance.
According to findings, the state government will be rolling out the first 500 First and Last Mile buses same day to ply the routes currently open to okada.
An official of the state Ministry of Transportation told Saturday Tribune that no okada must henceforth be sighted in the Lagos metropolis after the launch, adding that the scheme signifies a total eradication of commercial motorcycle operation in the state.
More than 300 okada have been reportedly impounded by the state authorities in the last three weeks in preparation for the new scheme.
According to the source, as more buses are rolled out across routes in Lagos, that means okada is gone forever.
Asked if the government is planning to engage some of the okada operators in the new initiative, the source said they were not part of the programme, adding that before now, they were asked to form themselves into a cooperative under the National Union of the Road Transport Workers (NURTW) to see other initiatives of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) they could key into but they allegedly refused.
It is estimated no fewer than 400,000 okada ply Lagos’ roads on a daily basis.
The spokesperson of LAMATA, Mr Kolawole Ojelabi, said more information about the new buses replacing okada on Lagos routes would be communicated by the time Governor Sanwo-Olu launches the initiative on Tuesday.
Although this is not the first time the state authorities would be pronouncing ban on okada in the metropolis, it is the first time an immediate alternative is being provided.
In 2012, former Governor Babatunde Fashola signed into law, the Lagos Road Traffic Law 2012, which restricts okada operation in at least 492 of the 9,200 roads across the metropolis.Today, the okada operators have returned to all the roads they were banned from with ferocious impunity.
The law spells out the offences and punishments attached. For example, commercial motorcycle operators are not to ply major trunks such as Ikorodu Road, Funsho Williams Avenue, Apapa-Oshodi Express, Lagos-Badagry and Lekki-Epe expressways, including all routes in Ikeja.
Specifically, Section 3 (1) of the traffic law prohibits the riding, driving or propelling of a cart, wheel barrow, motorcycle or tricycle on the major highways in Lagos.
Former Governor Fashola also lamented the rampant cases of accidents caused by okada. Records show in 2012 that Lagos alone had 2,555 accidents within five months, out of which okada accounted for 1,762 or 69 per cent. The National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, has a ward that his dedicated to okada accident victims.
