The Lagos okada ban

LAST week, the Lagos State governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, placed a fresh ban on okada operations in six local government areas of the state, namely Eti-Osa, Ikeja, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, Apapa and Surulere. The governor directed security operatives to enforce the proscription order in the councils with effect from June 1. Subsequently, the state government said that despite the June 1 deadline, the seizure of commercial motorcycles by the Lagos State Task Force would continue. According to the state’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, the deadline did not invalidate the provisions of the Lagos State Transport Sector Reform Law of 2018. The law provides that “no persons shall ride, drive or propel a motorcycle or tricycle on a major highway within the state,” and that “any person in contravention of this provision commits an offence” and would be made to face the wrath of the law.

Omotoso said that the Lagos State Task Force had continued to enforce the law, and had seized 238 motorcycles in Lekki in only two days. According to him, in Iba on the Lagos-Badagry expressway, where the Task Force was violently resisted, it seized 195 motorcycles. Omotoso said: “The riders were operating on highways and bridges in flagrant disobedience of the law because, according to them, they are free to ply unauthorised routes till June 1. This is wrong. The February 1, 2020 directive has not been reversed. The enforcement was weakened by COVID-19, which affected all areas of life. Now, the action is being reinforced.” The commissioner added that Governor Sanwo-Olu’s order was the first phase of the action and was triggered by safety and security concerns.

The ban on okada operations in the state was promulgated and enforced by the then Babatunde Fashola administration between 2007 and 2015. There was however a relaxation of the ban between 2015 and 2019 when Governor Akinwumi Ambode held the reins in the state. Since its inception, however, the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration has striven to enforce the law. For instance, on February 1 last year, it announced a ban on okada operations in six local government areas (LGAs) and nine Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) in the state. As a follow-up, on May 18, 2021, it launched the First and Last Mile buses as safe alternatives on routes where okada had been restricted. His administration has been keen to point out that the crises that resulted from the October 2020 nationwide #EndSARS protest had emboldened okada riders to return in droves to roads, highways and bridges where they had been banned. In particular, with the police off the roads in the immediate aftermath of the protest, okada riders trooped into the state from different parts of the country and beyond. They have been credibly accused of getting violent at the slightest provocation, inciting mob actions and perpetrating jungle justice in which many innocent people have died. The okada riders are also accused of lawlessness, including engagement in violent clashes with law enforcement officers in notorious areas where they operate on restricted routes.

Although the Lagos State government has given the okada riders a window of opportunity in which to do something else, it is clear that they do not want to do anything else. The business brings in ready profit that the riders do not believe they can make while working as artisans. While it is the business of government to facilitate and promote job creation, it is equally its responsibility to maintain law and order. In that case, given that okada operations on major roads in the state have been implicated in serial acts of criminality, it is only fit and proper for the government to proscribe them. In that regard, it is worth pointing out that there is a subsisting law regulating okada riding in the state and unless set aside by the court of law, it remains the law and must be enforced. In this regard, it is commendable that the Lagos State government has stuck to its guns in the face of the inducement offered by the riders by way of promised votes during the 2023 general election. We believe that the ban on okada operations should be vigorously enforced, particularly given the issue of crime. The okada menace must be curbed. It is a fact that many of the riders are not even Nigerians and are not documented.

In any case, it is not as if okada riding has been banned in every spot of ground in the state. The fact is that the proscription only affects designated spaces, the state government having recognised that motorbikes could come in handy in streets and other locations in the state. It is, therefore, impertinent and lawless for the operators to insist on plying the prohibited routes. Besides, it is a fact that no modern city runs on motorbikes. Modern cities are known by bus, rail and car usage on good roads. In this regard, as we have said time and again, a state like Lagos should have a functional rail system, including underground rail. It is good that the state government is now starting to look in the direction of rail. That is the way to go.

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