Okada: Feeding the fat cats

Every day on the country main roads, road transport officials collect dues from motorcyclists, sometimes deploying unorthodox methods and putting the lives of passengers at risk. TADE MAKINDE writes that the arm-twisting methods of the union officials are not about to end soon.

JANET, (not real name) had just closed from work and was on her way home. It was a little past five in the evening. After waiting for some minutes in front of her Ikeja, Lagos office waiting for a bus she decided to move a little forward to avoid the rowdy scene at the bus stop.

She started to take a stroll. Not quite one minute later, she felt a pull on her bag. She thought a friend or somebody she was familiar with was trying to play a trick on her. She was wrong. In a jiffy, her bag was gone. Right in front of her at top speed were two young men on okada. She raised an alarm but it was too late. Her money, identity card, ATM card and a few other items in the bag was gone forever.

In spite of those who use okada for crime there are those who genuinely make their daily living by operating one. All over the country and across many states, okada riders had become a menace. Many state governments, including the Federal Road Safety Corps don’t want them on major roads anymore, coupled with the menace they had constituted themselves into. Reports by the FRSC stated that almost 10 million registered okadas ply the roads all over the country. Many, however, blame the high number on politicians who are fond of gifting okadas and tricycles mostly to youths as empowerment tools.

In the inner city roads where many still operate, they are always at loggerheads with members of the National Union of  Road Transport Workers (NURTW) who waylay them even at the shortest notice to collect from daily levies from them, even at the risk of injuring their passengers. The union members have proven to be their nemesis.

In Lagos recently, an alleged NURTW member while collecting the daily levies at Daleko Market in Mushin area of the state, reportedly chased a young okada man to his death. The okada rider, it was reported, had attempted to evade the transport workers’ union’s tout ‘agbero’. He didn’t want to pay the fee being collected from his colleagues and subsequently ran under a moving truck.

The story is not different in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, where the so-called union members use all forms of crude methods to force commercial motorcyclists to stop and pay their levies.

Recently at Ring Road area of the city, an overzealous union member who wanted to impress his boss who was sitting not too far from the scene was almost crushed by a black SUV after chasing an erring okada man he suspected had not paid the regular levy.

Fortunately the SUV only managed to brush his body on the road.  As he was struggling to get up, a Micra car driven by an elderly man hit and flung him into the air. He landed on the sidewalk with some injuries. The erring okada man, who did not even know that he was the immediate cause of the commotion, slipped away.

The SUV driver also did not wait to find out what had happened since his vehicle was not damaged, while the union member ended his day abruptly.

A frustrated okada rider, Najeem Adeboye, vented his anger on commercial motorcycles union which has refused to come to the aid of  its members when they run into trouble.

“All our ogas know how best to do is ask for money for this, money for that. I pay not less than N500 in different fees on a daily basis and yet, when we have problems, the union is never there to do anything.

“Many of us are worried and even disgusted with the union boys at Molete, but I tell you that those at Beere are the worst. These guys don’t spare anyone, even non-commercial motorcycle owners. These guys collect as much as N500 from us,” Adeboye said.

“Won san lori gan ni Beere,” one okada rider interjected.

Another okada operator, Wale Oyetoro, complained to Sunday Tribune that the leadership of the union is only concerned with the fees collected from operators but careless about their welfare.

“Sometimes we are forced to pay dues outside of those meant for the union. We are mandated to pay N20 daily for union; that is for the state, and N50 for the national body. But these boys also line their pockets by collecting illegal fees from us and nobody is talking. Many of us are afraid of talking because of the fear of being harshly dealt with,” he told Sunday Tribune.

A commercial motorcyclist, who would not want to be named corroborated Oyetoro’s position saying all forms of levies are heaped on operators.

“On special occasions, we are made to pay as much as N500. There was a time when one of the top union officers’ PAs wanted to build his house. We were forced to pay N500 monthly towards the man’s house. He completed the building within eight months. That is apart from his N5,000 take home every day. But if we run into problems with the police or our personal problems, the union is never there,” he lamented.

He added that many of his colleagues are forced to pay what he called ‘Police protection fee.’

Biola Ajani, an okada operator who plies Apata area of Ibadan, said he pays N200 monthly as ‘Police fee,’ but also pays N50 at check-points every night when stopped by police officers.

“They even have a book where names are written. If your name is not in that book, you pay another N100 as fine. Who keeps the fine? The police or the union? How are we expected to survive when all we make is taken away by union excos and police? What is the purpose of paying N200 monthly, when we are still made to part with N50 every time we run into police, mostly at nights? For now, I have no choice. Many of us riding okadas are doing so because we have no options for now. Once my luck changes, I will stop this. It is a ‘monkey dey work, baboon dey chop’ arrangement.

“These guys (union members) are tools, especially to politicians. That is why no government is doing anything to curtail the activities of NURTW members. The leaders should do something quick to curtail the excesses of these guys,” the Offa Poly graduate told Sunday Tribune.

‘Daily collection is legitimate’

Reacting, the Chairman, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Oyo State, Alhaji Taofeeq Oyerinde, aka Fele, maintained that the union unanimously agreed to a certain amount as dues to run the association and to be collected by officers appointed by the union.

He castigated some members of the union who stretch the collectors to the point of taking extra measures before they could be made to pay the mandatory levy.

According to Alhaji Oyerinde, who also doubles as the chairman of South West zone of the union, “we collect dues from our members as agreed by all of us in a congress. Those you see on the roads collecting the fare are appointed by the state chapter of the union. So, we expect our members, who are aware of our joint decision, to pay and abide by our resolution.

“Anybody who is not cooperating with them, definitely is a not a functional member of NURTW in the state. Our points of collection were decided by the members of the union, coordinated by our members.

“The collection points are bus stops and some open and convenient joints. The exercise is not done in secret. If our members have in the course of carrying out this exercise made some mistakes, we will accept the responsibility of correcting those mistakes. However, that does not mean we should stop collecting the dues.

“We are a peace-loving union, as you can see. Since we came on board. However, on what you called my attention to, I promise a change of attitude from our officers.”

When asked on the possibility of a refined method of collection, Alhaji Oyerinde said the association is the only authorised arm to make amendment and not the executive.

He, however, denied that the union collects extra fee termed as “after” by some people, outside the mandatory dues payable to the union.

“There is nothing like “after” but we do collect our statutory dues. This, we collect on a daily basis. If there will be something called a weekly collection, then, it has to be passed by the congress. But for now, it remains a daily collection as agreed by all of us. The amount to be paid is known to all at every joint,” Oyerinde said.

—Additional reports by TUNDE OGUNESAN.