Daily Independent (Lagos)
Victor Ebimomi
30 October 2008
Lagos — Commercial motorcycle otherwise known as 'Okada' is a veritable means of transportation in Lagos State, nay Nigeria. One of its major advantages lies in the fact that it could penetrate the city interiors where taxi and bus cannot.
Besides, in a place like Lagos where heavy vehicle traffic is a common phenomenon, okada can be a handy relief because of its ability to meander through the traffic. But that seems to be where its usefulness ends, as it is known to be a potent tool in perpetrating crimes.
On several occasions, reports have it that armed robbers resort to okada as escaping equipment after committing their criminal acts. The scenario became so rampant that at a point, the Lagos State Government had to slam a ban restricting the operators to work between 6.a.m and 7.00 p.m. The restriction did not go down well registered okada associations, who complained that those involved in okada-aided crimes were not genuine riders and, therefore, pleaded to set a machinery in motion to track the 'bad eggs' as they pleaded for extension from 7.00 p.m. to 10.00 p.m.
After months of intensive lobbying and promise to sanitise their operation and rid it of criminal elements, the government succumbed to the 10.00 pm demand. Whether they adhere to the time limit or not is a different thing entirely. But one ugly trend in the operation of okada, which is fast gaining ground in the state, is the shift from the inner roads to the expressway with its attendant risks and criminalities. From Apapa-Oshodi Expressway to Ikorodu Road, Lagos-Badagry Expressway to Third Mainland Bridge, okada operators maintain ubiquitous presence along the roadsides.
On these express roads, apart from the bad impression they may create to the image of the state in the eyes of foreigners----who might end up concluding that the country is operating 'okada economy' because of the sheer number of them, they constitute serious nuisance and pose grave danger to other road users. The fact that the expressways lend themselves to a jolly ride, the motorcycles have continued to remain dangerous instruments for perpetrating crimes with ease on these roads.
Samplers: Few weeks ago at Tin-Can Bus Stop, a man was standing at the bus stop with a portable bag. Like a Hollywood movie, a bike heading towards Oshodi axis with a supposed passenger was on top speed only to reduce his speed on getting to the bus stop and the passenger snatched the man's bag in a way that shocked the man and other passengers at the bus stop.
"They did not come down, the whole thing was like a movie and before anybody could say thief, they were far away. You see, because it was expressway, it was very easy for them", said one of the witnesses, who gave his name simply as Kenneth.
Till today, from Tin Can to Coconut stretch of the Apapa-Oshodi Express, even motorists dread passing there in the evening, particularly once there is hold-up and in most of the crimes committed there, the perpetrators escape with bikes.
Going a bit further to around Warehouse to Trinity, where there are several companies, such as banks, warehouses and tank farms, the situation was the same until recently when policemen from Trinity Police Division started maintaining conspicuous presence along the road through both leg and vehicular patrol.
"This area was bad before. People coming out from banks were usually robbed and the robbers would just zoom off on the expressway," said a lady called Titi Oyeyemi.
Along Ikorodu Road, a man called Folorunso, who lives in Ikorodu but has his businesses in Apapa area, narrated his ordeal around Town Planning Bus Stop, Anthony.
According to him, he was on his way home around 8.00 pm. after a day work and the engine of his car suddenly developed overheating around the area. He stopped to check it, but before he could open the bonnet, an okada man parked by his side, and pronto the two men on it came down and robbed him of his money, handset and other valuables.
"Immediately they finished robbing me, they took off heading toward Ojota. Less than two minutes later, my car was back to life and I started my journey," he said.
To Folorunso, the presence of okada on the expressways at any point in time is not ideal because of the fact that there would always be something to attract those criminals pretending to be genuine helpers.
"They should be banished to the inner roads. In the expressways, they will see many things to rob on the move, especially if there is slight hold-up that cannot disturb them from escaping," he counselled.
Also recounting his ordeal in the hands of okada criminals on the expressway, John Amature, a seaman, said he was knocked down as a result of the recklessness of one of them at Ojota and he had dislocation, which rendered him immobile for weeks.
According him, he had wanted to cross the road since the pedestrian bridge looks somehow precarious to use when the incidents happened.
"I surveyed the road to make sure that it was clear of vehicles before I crossed. I didn't know how it happened, but I suspect the okada man was rushing to pick a passenger at the other side of the road leading towards Ketu. It hit me and I fell flat. Rather than wait to assist me, he just ran away and nobody to pursue him," he narrated.
He suggested that government should come down heavily on the okada men operating on the expressway, maintaining that besides all their recklessness and criminality, "they portray a bad image for the state". He asserted that one of the major reasons while they were banned in Abuja City and restricted to the satellite towns was not unconnected with the bad image they were creating for the Federal Capital Territory.
"Lagos is the most popular city in Nigeria, so the same rule should be applied," he counselled.
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