The okada generation:Skilled and graduate okada riders speak on how they found themselves riding okada for a living

In this report TOLU OGUNYINKA, THOMAS PHILIP and SUBOMI AKINTUNDE write that many Nigerians who are into commercial motorcycle business today were actually trained in one skill or the other, or had graduated from tertiary institutions but took to okada riding to, at least, barely  survive because they could not secure a job in the formal sector.

NIGERIA as a country is generally regarded as a country rich in mineral resources, but ironically with a majority of impoverished citizens. However, that is not to say that Nigeria is bereft of quality in its human resource compositions. In fact, Nigerians in the Diaspora, especially in the United States, are said to be one of the most educated immigrant groups. At home, there are so many educated Nigerians, including skilled ones who are wasting away due to lack of employment. Today, many of these people are riding commercial motorcycles, popularly called okada, for a living, having been forced by circumstances to dump their certificates and the skills they had acquired.

Their sad situations…

Mr. Tunde Olabiyi a young man in his early 30s is one of these Nigerians who had dumped their certificates for the okada business, albeit temporarily. He is a holder of Nigeria Certificate in Education (NCE), but after walking the streets for many months in search of  a job to no effect, he decided to take to riding okada in order to make ends meet. Though he is not satisfied with the nature and low-level of his job, Mr Olabiyi said it was putting food on the table for his family.

“I’m educated, but due to lack of job opportunities I decided to be riding okada, because as a family man, I’m expected to be responsible for my wife and children. I’m not satisfied with it because the work is very exhausting and stressful with little returns on a daily basis.

“Sometimes, Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs)  stop us on the road to check our particulars. For instance, a VIO stopped me last week and asked for my particulars which I forgot at home. He asked me to go and get it which I did. They checked it and still asked me to pay N5000 just because I forgot it at home. I had to pay them the money which was even borrowed. The little change I get from this work is what I give my wife and children. The remaining change would be used for fuel. So I’m begging the government to help us in any way they can,” Olabiyi said.

Joseph, another okada rider, is an unhappy man. Like Olabiyi he also possesses an NCE certificate from the College of Education, Ilorin, but he does not see any difference between himself and a semi-literate person or a stark illiterate. This he adduced to his poor state despite the fact he should be in one school or the other today teaching, but he is into okada transport business which he was not trained for.

According to him, government has failed in providing jobs for its people, more so as past promises and even current ones to deliver on employment for the youth have not been kept. Since the available options are either to keep idle and wait for government to fulfill un-kept promises or go into crime, Joseph told Sunday Tribune that he opted for commercial motorcycling.

“The reason people are going into okada is riding because there is no job for one to live sufficiently on; one has to look for one way or the other to sustain oneself. Without this okada riding, there is no other work for me. And I cannot go and steal.

“What really pains me most is that the government is always promising us that they will provide jobs, and resuscitate moribund companies so as to make jobs available. But it has turned out to be an empty promise. Nothing came out of them. They (government) didn’t do anything; they (government officials) just face their family members alone. In Nigeria of today, there is selfishness; nobody cares for the other person.

“Imagine someone like me that is educated riding okada with illiterates. That  means we are on the same level. But let’s say that the government offers jobs to us, there will be a big difference between a graduate and an illiterate,” he said.

Mr Fabiyi Isiaka thought that after his graduation from Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun, he would end up in the classroom imparting knowledge. But after unsuccessfully searching for a paying teaching job, he decided to learn a trade. He was to discover that he still had a long road to travel, as he could not muster the needed capital to start his business. The last option for him? He ended up riding okada to survive.

“After graduation, I could not get a job so I decided to learn a trade. I went to learn how to sell electrical items like torch, batteries and other stuffs, but even at that, after the apprenticeship, I could not get enough capital to settle down. That is why I started riding motorbike to fend for myself and family because my children have to go to school and I also have to drop money for their upkeep.

“If I can get enough capital to start my business, I will drop this bike business. Riding motorbike for commercial purpose is stressful and it is not for a lazy person. Moreso, there is nothing more comfortable than sitting in my own shop and making money. That is the way out. My word to the government is to make education totally free so that education will not be for the children of the rich only.

“Even in public schools, students are still being asked to bring this and that and also the people should not put everything on government. Once a child is in JSS 3, he or she should go and learn a trade so they can stand on their own when they graduate,” Isiaka advised.

We don’t like this work, but… 

From Sunday Tribune investigations, most of the okada riders do not like the job they do. They simply don’t have an alternative yet but as soon as something else more stable comes up, they are sure to dump riding okada.

That is what Femi Olatunji, a secondary school certificate holder hopes to do. He started his own okada business about four years ago. It was meant to be a part-time job because he was actually trained as an aluminium fittings maker. He would have loved to further his education but he had no sponsor.

“The government didn’t make education attractive anymore, majority of the graduates are jobless. This is one of the things that discouraged me from furthering my education. Financial constraint majorly contributed to the reason I didn’t further my education beyond secondary school certificate level,” he explained noting that once he is able to overcome the financial constraints he would definitely dump okada and return to school.

One of Olatunji’s colleagues in the business, Owolabi, today should be working in a big company as a mechanical engineer or in the alternative have his own workshop. When he graduated from The Polytechnic, Ibadan, he must have had high hopes for the future but he’s currently doing three jobs together to make ends meet.

“At first I managed to secure a job at SUMAL, (a Lebanese-owned company in Ibadan) as an engineer, but it could not sustain me as a married man. I still have to struggle to earn a living and provide for my family. I decided to take the job of an electrician and riding okada for commercial purpose as supplement to the salary from my previous job,” he narrated.

After roaming the streets for many years with “No vacancy” staring Olafimihan Yusuf, a graduate of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Ogun State in the face on almost every occasion, he also toed the same path of others before him. He stopped trying to get a job and took to riding okada.

“What most organisations do say is that there is no vacancy, so instead of going into illegal stuff or stealing, I started riding a motorbike and I am able to feed myself and my family. My appeal to government is for them to provide good jobs for graduates because it is painful spending years in higher institutions and not getting a job at the end,” Yusuf lamented.

Riding okada could bring psychological discomfort —UI don

Speaking on the graduate okada riders, a University of Ibadan professor of Counseling and Criminal Justice, Oyesoji Aremu said survival is important to the okada riders but the business venture surely has effects of their psyche.

He said that before now, the middle class rode motorbikes, but because of the failure of the system, it is now a business venture.

“They stand not to be blamed because they (okada riders) must survive. However, such could bring some psychological discomforts to okada riders who are educated. The psychological discomforts could also bring upon them some forms of social inadequacies even if they get some leeways in terms of financial breakthroughs.

“Emotionally too, educated okada riders could develop life emptiness when they see their friends or old school mates for want of luck or connections in much more better workplaces. This is not to say, okada riding as a business venture is ridiculous, rather, interrogation in the context of the discourse especially among educated Nigerians, is psychologically ridiculous and emotionally emptied. It would require strong will power for educated okada riders to survive in such a social economic workplaces,” he explained.

Okada riders may be providing a very essential service but when those who could have been more useful to the country’s development are running okada business and are growing in number, it is predictable where the development of the country is headed.