Vanguard (Lagos)
4 January 2009
MR Banakor Baridon, 45, an Ogoni man of Rivers State extraction, took a long look at his Sanyang motorcycle that was parked in front of his makeshift room in a rented shanty structure at Gbundu waterfront in downtown Port Harcourt. Time was 4.45 p.m. on December 31, 2008. Baridon knew that time was ticking away, when he would never ride his bike in Port Harcourt again.
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Hey Citizens of Gardencity:
Regulation and not total ban of the operation of motocycles on the streets of Port Hracourt, as a means of transportation, is the answer. Regulation would imply developing and implementing a set of ordinances and statutory measures governing the operation of these types of vehicles, given the state of the roads, freeways and streets of the greater Port Harcourt area. Secondly, there should be a well defined aggressive enforcement mechanism and finally there should be training effort. The training effort should be a two tier system, i.e. train the trainer, this would involve the traffic wardens and the law enfforcement group and the other set of training would be for the operators of such vehicles. Gardencity, please borrow a leaf from Sao Paulo Brazil and/ or Bombay India. Experience has shown that "Government" works best when it functions in a regulatory mode. Gardencity, please give the poorman a break even Houston, Texas, USA has Okada. The difference between both cases is the usage factor. In Houston Okada is used for pleasure while in Port Harcourt is used for business.
Peter Ejirika, Citizen of Houston, Texas,USA (Retired Citizen of 7 Creek Road, Port Harcourt)