Okada: N30bn business that threatens Nigeria’s future

Although the use of motorcycles for commercial purpose had been on in some parts of Cross River State and Yola in Adamawa State since the 1970s, the resort to Okada as a popular means of commercial transportation across the country was in response to the hard times of the 1980s occasioned by the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) of the Ibrahim Babangida administration. The IBB administration had contemplated taking an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan but thought it wise to subject the final decision to a public debate. Nigerians generally rejected the loan and the government accepted the position of the populace but it then came up with the SAP to be able to cope with the economic realities of the time. The SAP, which was an austerity measure, birthed inflation though there was a reduction of money in circulation. This affected the income of many people, especially those in the lower strata of the society. As a way of making ends meet, many civil servants who had cars used them for commercial purposes in the morning and evening. Soon, motorcycle owners joined and used their scooters to convey passengers to earn extra income.

The name Okada was adopted from Okada Air, a local airline established by Chief Gabriel Igbinedion because of the ease with which the commercial motorcycles manoeuvre through traffic to take passengers to their destinations timely just as the airline.

As the economy improved in the 1990s, there was migration to the urban centres. This forced up rents in the cities. Those who could not afford the high rent had to move farther away from the city centres to less developed areas, some to put up their own structures, others to rent cheaper apartments. Since the roads were not paved, it was difficult to persuade commercial vehicles to ply those roads. Commercial motorcyclists saw an opportunity in this and concentrated on plying their trades in city outskirts. At this time, it was still a part time business for low income earners who sought avenues to boost their revenue. However, Okada riding has since become a fulltime business with even university graduates getting involved in it.

 

The rise of Okada business

Okada riding, which started as a spare time engagement, is now considered a worthy business by the operators. According to Babangida Maihula, President of the Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle and Tricycle, Owners, Repairers and Riders Association of Nigeria (ACOMORAN), while speaking at the 2019 mini convention of the association, in Abuja, there are over 10million bike riders in the country. With a motorcycle rider delivering between N3,000 and N4,000 daily, the Okada business generates at least N30billion daily. This is probably why Damilola J. Micah and Gabriel O. Owagbemi both of Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, submitted in a paper, Mainstreaming Commercial Motorcycle as Sustainable Source of Economic Survival, published in 2018, that “In the real sense, commercial motorcycle business contributes to the economy of those engaged in the sector and by extension an expansion of gross domestic product (GDP).”

According to sociologists, a number of factors have been responsible for the rising interest of Nigerians in Okada riding as a form of business.

 

High population growth vs low economic growth

Nigeria’s population grows at the rate of 3 per cent per annum, while the economic growth oscillates between 1.2 per cent and 2 per cent per annually. That means the economic growth cannot support the burgeoning population growth rate. In addition, Nigeria turns out about 1.5million tertiary institution graduates annually without any plan to gainfully engage them after school. Many of them after embarking on job hunting for a number of years are frustrated and are willing to take up any job, including riding Okada, just to keep body and soul together.

That is the story of Olawale Joshua, a Lagos-based Okada rider. He had high expectations after his graduation from the university with a second class lower division in Economics. However, after years of job hunting, his hope for a better life was dashed, he became disillusioned but rather than engaging in crime, he resorted to riding Okada to eke out a living.

According to him, “I graduated with a 2.2 in Economics from the university. But after five years of job searching, I decided to take up the Okada job. It is with it, I cater for myself, wife and son. So, if a better job comes, it’s welcome and if it does not, I am contented with this.”

 

Erratic electricity supply

The electricity situation in the country has been going from bad to worse over the years. From a few downtimes of the 1980s and 1990s, system collapse and blackouts have become the rule in Nigeria.

Without electricity, many artisans cannot practice their trade. The welder is helpless without electricity, so is the barber, the tailor, the hairdresser, and a host of other artisans. With bills piling up, they are forced to seek a way out and they resort to Okada riding.

Forty-eight year old Mufutau Ilori, who trained to become an artisan and even practised as one, out of frustration occasioned by epileptic electricity supply and low patronage, dropped his iron casting and welding business to take up Okada riding.

According to him, due to his inability to make ends meets, pay house rent and provide for the needs of his immediate family, Ilori, a resident of Ijesha, Surulere, Lagos and father of four children, ventured into Okada riding business which was contracted to him on hire purchase terms.

And his story, according to him, since he began with his new trade has changed.

He said, “Welding business is collapsing in Lagos. I cannot of other locations but in Lagos where I operate the business is dying mainly because of the poor state of electricity, low patronage and the dearth of apprentices.

“It is no longer attractive to the younger generations maybe because of the hunger for quick wealth and riches. And since I have a wife and children to feed and school fees to pay, I decided to temporarily leave welding and go into Okada riding. Fortunately for me, I got someone who bought it for me on hire purchase and I have concluded the payment. It now belongs to me. I can now feed myself and family.”

Ilori’s view is in tandem with that of Alhaji Saheed Folahanmi, Chairman, Amalgamated Commercial Tricycle Owners, Repairs And Riders Association of Nigeria (ACOMORAN), Oyo State chapter.

According to him, “Some artisans chose to Okada as a means of livelihood because their vocation is not bringing enough money to take care of their basic and other pressing needs. I am of the opinion that their decision is much better than opting to seek other illegitimate means to find money,” he said.

 

Easy money

Many people; young and old, educated and unlettered are easily lured into joining the Okada business because of the ease with which money is made.

According to the chairman of ACOMORAN, River Park Branch, Abuja, Muhammad Bello, many people join the association because Okada riding is a business that fetches the operators quick money to take care of their immediate needs.

He said an Okada rider makes between N13, 000 and N15, 000 every week, and this has helped in no small measures to conveniently pay their children’s school fees, sponsor their siblings and go into farming.

Another branch chairman in the Federal Capital Territory, Maniru Lawal, who vowed never to leave the work for another business, with determination, an Okada rider can make about N100, 000 in a month.

According to him, “I have spent about 16 years in this Abuja and Okada has been my source of income. This is a business from which I can get up to N100, 000 in a month. If I borrow money from someone, I can assure the person that within one month, I will pay back.”

The duo of Haruna Abdullah and Malum Abubakar also corroborated the chairmen, saying some of them are using the business to sponsor themselves in schools and help their siblings.

Speaking in a similar vein, Oyo State chairman of ACOMORAN, Alhaji Folahanmi, said most of the young men in Okada business, who are mostly graduates and artisans, are doing it as a means of survival when they cannot secure good paying jobs as a result of the economic hardship in the country which is biting harder by the day.

 

Easy movement

One of the features of living in urban centres is the endemic traffic gridlock in which residents on a daily basis lose productive man-hours and business appointments. To aid fast movement and journey through gullies and potholes on city roads, many residents ride on Okada not minding the drain it causes in their purse.

According to Tola Johnson, who lives in Iyana Ejigbo in Egbe-Idimu LCDA in Lagos, he wakes up as early as 5am and hit the road by 6am in order to beat the early hour traffic gridlock synonymous with roads in his axis. This is his daily routine, but when he is hooked in the traffic which takes hours to get out of, he relies on Okada to get to his destination.

“I am not a fan of Okada but I am compelled to resort to it to meet up with official assignments,” Johnson, an accountant at a private firm on Victoria Island, said.

He stated further, “I don’t have to worry about the state of traffic in Lagos as long as Okadas are there to bridge the gap but not without a financial burden.”

 

Environmental factors

Environmental factors have also contributed to the rising interest of Nigerians in Okada business. The shrinking size of Lake Chad and extended dry season has made cattle rearing and farming in the northern part of Nigeria less lucrative than they used to be. Therefore, many youths from the North migrate down South to become Okada riders.

Twenty-two year old Aliyu Hassan left his family in Kaduna in search of a greener pasture in Lagos. When he arrived Lagos about five years ago, he had neither relatives nor friends he could live with.

According to him, his decision to migrate to Lagos, the centre of excellence, was borne out of his determination to tap from the boundless opportunities in the state and add value to his existence.

Five years after berthing in Lagos, Aliyu, now an Okada rider, said “Fear of hunger is the reason I left my family behind to struggle in Lagos.”

After his Qur’an education in Zaria, he said, “There was nothing left for me to be doing in Zaria. We could hardly feed ourselves. As the eldest son, in 2015, I decided to travel down to Lagos to work and send money to my parents.

“I stayed in railway line, Otto in a shanty where I paid N100 per night before the shanties were demolished. I also worked as a load carrier in Iddo market in the Lagos Mainland Local Government. It is from this job I saved enough money to buy an Okada in 2019 which I have been riding till date. Although it was tough at the beginning, I am glad I did because with my Okada business, I take care of my parents and siblings.”

 

Easy acquisition

It is a bit easy to acquire a motorcycle for commercial purposes for those who are determined and are willing to take the risk. Usually, there are dealers who are ready to give out the motorcycles on hire purchase agreement to the riders who either pay weekly or monthly installments. Nigerian Tribune findings revealed that most of those who get the motorcycles on hire purchase arrangement usually pay back within 18 months.

Quite a number of politicians who embark on poverty alleviation programmes often give out motorcycles to beneficiaries of their gesture. Such gestures have helped many people to become Okada riders.

 

Downsides

However, despite being an avenue for young and unemployed Nigerians to eke out a living, Okada riding is not without its downsides.

 

Huge revenue, zero tax

Going by the assertion of ACOMORAN president, the business generates a minimum of N30billion daily but Okada riders do not pay tax. Nigerian Tribune findings revealed that while every Okada rider is levied by the association, the riders do not pay tax to the government because the levy goes to the purse of the association and not the government coffers. This is a huge loss of revenue to the government, especially the third tier of government.

 

High accident rate

According to Micah and Owagbemi, commercial motorcycles have a higher rate of crippling and fatal accidents per unit distance than cars and buses. They add that, “A 1998 study at the Obafemi Awolowo Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, showed that injuries to limb occurred in 79.3 per cent of patients who reported at the emergency department of the hospital. These patients were linked to commercial motorcycle accidents.”

 

Reduction of the stock of artisans

With many artisans abandoning their trade to seek easy money from Okada riding, a critical sector of the economy is being endangered. A number of companies are finding it difficult to employ artisans who are critical to their production. Not only does this hamper the progress of the companies, it also affects the growth of the economy.

According to Nigerian Tribune findings, artisans such as tilers and masons are brought into the country from the neighbouring countries. The implication of this is that while Nigerians are complaining of unemployment, the available ones are being given out to foreign nationals.

 

Insecurity

Insecurity has escalated with the rise in the use of motorcycles for commercial purposes. When insurgency broke out in the North, motorcycles were used by the insurgents to carry out their attacks. Quite a number of state governments have banned the use of Okada in city centres because of the threat they pose to the security of the people. In many estates in the country, Okada riders are not allowed because they are seen as a means through which vices are perpetrated.

Investigation by the Nigerian Tribune, however, revealed that despite the fact that society benefits immensely in the business, especially in satellite towns in Abuja, the men of underworld are also using it to perpetrate vicious acts.