The Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, speaks with BOLA BADMUS on the okada ban controversy and the security implications.
Earlier in the week, stakeholders backed Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to ban okada operations in Lagos State. Is the ban going to be state-wide or it is just an extension of the running partial ban?
Well, first, it is not something that the government has pronounced. But yesterday (Monday), there was a stakeholders meeting on security and most of the people who came for that meeting came from all over the state, from as far as Epe, Ikorodu, Badagry, Ibeju and Alimoso. They came from all over. And the decision you must have heard was that okada should be banned and that the government should do something about abandoned buildings because they are being used by criminals as hideouts.
And the governor said we were going to introduce First Mile and Last Mile buses that could take the place of okada. Even then, there are those asking if we had alternatives to the riders. And to the question of what okada customers would do, the governor said these First and Last Mile buses would be the answer to those questions.
And now, talking about whether the ban would be all over the state or just a few places, the governor is going to make that pronouncement any moment from now. I think after Sallah, at the launching of the First Mile and Last Mile buses, the governor would make the pronouncement.
But what Lagosians want, as you must have seen from the interaction of yesterday (Monday), is that this mode of transportation should be banned because the disadvantages far outweigh the advantages.
And the shocking thing is that most of them are not registered, so they are being used for criminal activities. And considering what is going on in Nigeria now, Lagos does not want to be caught unawares so that the horrible tales that are coming from other states do not happen in Lagos. This is why the state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, is trying to take action on this. And before taking any action, he has demonstrated the fact that we are in a democracy; he has invited everybody.
Besides that, he has shown that security is a responsibility of all. That is why he convened that meeting yesterday and the consensus at the meeting was that okada should be banned and he is going to make a formal pronouncement on that any moment from now.
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If okada is finally banned, how does the government want to enforce the decision, considering the fact that the partial ban has not been effectively implemented?
If you look at what happened yesterday, every concerned stakeholder was there. Even some okada riders were there. They were represented because they are under transport unions and the transport unions were there in their numbers, so were all giant law enforcement agencies. The GOCs were there. The police commissioner, Hakeem Odumosu, was there, and he made a presentation.
So, everybody that has responsibility for law and order was there and because of that, you would know that this is what Lagosians want. If eventually Governor Sanwo-Olu pronounces a ban on okada, there would be no problem of enforcement. The Task Force is there for the enforcement. The police are there and the military chiefs, they came yesterday. There have been accusations that some of their men were the ones involved in the business of okada. They have heard that and since the society is saying it doesn’t want okada for so many reasons, especially for security reasons, these are custodians of our security machine, so they have no reason not to enforce such a ban if the governor eventually makes the pronouncement.
Are you not concerned that as okada are daily seized on unauthorised routes and are supposedly crushed, they are soon back on the same routes?
It is not just fair enough to make a categorical statement that they are coming back. That allegation has been made several times but I don’t have any proof in the sense that most of these okada are not even registered. There is no way for me to establish that an okada has been seized and brought back to service. Yes, they are being crushed but not in a manner that we would have loved the speed. So, the ideal thing is for us to be able to have a very big facility for that kind of thing, to crush them, that kind of facility the state government, on its own, doesn’t have now. We will find a way of doing it. And this time around, if okada is banned eventually, I can assure you that getting rid of such motorcycles would not be a problem.
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Will a statewide ban require amendments to the current law?
I do not see anything under this dispensation that we have now that doesn’t give the governor the power to propose a ban on okada. If the governor decides that okada must be banned, the Traffic Law, the regulation of traffic, gives him the muscle to do that and it has been done before. We restricted okada from about 470 roads in the state. That same law, I think the 2012 Law that was reviewed in 2018, the Lagos Traffic Law, is enough for the governor to pronounce a ban on okada and get it enforced.
The law has all provisions, there is no need to go to the House of Assembly to say that we want to have another law to be able to enforce ban on okada.
There are concerns that the proposed ban will increase crime and insecurity in Lagos.
Those who are saying that have a point but that is not all the point. They didn’t look at the matter dispassionately and fundamentally, they looked at it superficially. If you look at it deeply, you will find out that many are coming to Lagos to do okada business because there is a kind of laissez faire attitude. They are not checked, that is why they keep coming.
There have been so many states that have banned okada, mostly because of the security implications. Bandits, terrorists, they use okada, and Lagos is saying we want to be safe. The people don’t want this here. I do not see why anybody would now be talking about alternatives for the people who are riding okada. Most of them are not even Nigerians. We said that much at the stakeholders’ meeting. But the governor said clearly in his speech that anybody who is willing to work will always find something to do. There are alternatives.
And we have programmes in our agricultural sector which people can key into. We have programmes in Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Ministry which people can key into. We have programmes under wealth creation which people can key into. There are so many other programmes.
The government has injected money into the entertainment industry. The government has put money into agriculture. The government has put money into so many areas where anybody who is riding okada today can key into because this is what the riders are saying. They claim that lack of jobs pushed them into okada riding. But if you are a graduate, and you are interested in business, if you package your business proposal well, the Lagos Employment Trust Fund is there. If you can’t do that, we have over 21 vocational centres in Lagos where people are not just being trained, but after training, they get equipment to go and start their businesses and I think that as of the last count, over 20,000 Lagosians have benefitted from that, and in Lagos, we don’t discriminate.
Anybody who is coming and is willing to do something legal, we will give the backing and everything that the administration of Babajide Sanwo-Olu is doing is people-centred so that anybody who comes to Lagos and is well behaved within the ambit of the laws of the land, won’t regret coming to Lagos. It is a land of opportunities as everybody has seen. It is a land where anybody, sons or daughters of nobody, can become somebody that everybody is talking about. That is the spirit of Lagos. So, for those talking about alternatives, the alternatives are there. The people just need to take advantage of them.
Is the state government ready to address possible adverse results of the ban, especially in terms of increased crime rate, and why is Lagos, unlike some other states, not sending away identified illegal foreigners?
Lagos is sub-national. We do not want to behave as if we are independent. We cannot go and erect a border at Kara or at Berger. We cannot go and erect a border post at Badagry and stop people coming into Lagos. No, we are not going to do that because the law does not empower us to do that.
All we are going to be doing is that very soon, we are launching the Lagos State Residents Card which the governor has been encouraging everybody to take. We are not saying people should not come into Lagos, but we must be able to account for you; not that you would come to Lagos and disappear into thin air. For us to be able to plan for everybody who is in Lagos, including visitors, we need to have a kind of data which we can use for planning purpose. That is why we are going to be stepping up advocacy about the LASTRA Card; that people should not see it as an instrument of taxation, but as an instrument or means of getting data that will help the government to plan, that will help the government to cater for visitors and residents.
I don’t see why anybody would say because there is a ban on okada, if eventually it comes, that is going to cause unemployment and an increase in criminality. Anybody who says that is going to take up a life of crime because he has not been allowed to ride okada, he just wants to be involved in crime.
I don’t see how a ban is going to push up crime rate. On the contrary, it is going to bring it down because people believe that from petty to very big ones, okada is a get-away means for criminals. If they snatch people’s bags, they escape on okada. When they want to go and do arson, they escape on okada. You saw that during last October #EndSARS protest. People were burning BRT buses all over the place and they were riding on okada.
If you look at the crime rate, the figures that the Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, reeled out yesterday (Monday), they were scary, because the rate of crimes committed on okada has been going up. At that meeting, he also joined call for ban on okada and the police are the experts. If they see that if you ban okada, the crime rate would increase, they would not advise the governor or the government to so do. And ordinary Lagosians who are pushing and shouting and screaming that okada should be banned, they are the ones who wear the shoes, and they know where they pinch. They cannot be telling the government to ban okada if they knew that doing so would increase the rate of crimes, and I do not believe it’s going to increase it. On the contrary, it is going to reduce it.
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