George Onah
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.
The bike had been a source of income for him and his household for over eight years. He had come to know the machine as the only tool that could spin money for him. He looked at the time on his wrist and said, "So, by this time tomorrow I will not be able to ride my bike again anywhere in Port Harcourt.
Oh, government is strong." Baridon told Sunday Vanguard that he had dreamt and lived an okada life for close to a decade and had not given a thought that the life of making quick money, he had so cherished, would soon come to an abrupt end.
A short walk into the shanty community at Gbundu exposed a cluster of okada operators musing and gnashing their teeth over their impending doom. Realising that their guest was a journalist, one of the motorcyclists, Johnbull Sunday, in a fit of anger, boasted: "Go and tell the governor that I will not stop riding my bike even on January 1, 2009. I will continue to ride it until I am arrested by the police, because it is better for the bike to be parked at the police station than my house. I did not buy it to stay in my apartment as a piece of furniture; rather it was to make money for me."
Johnbull may have acted on the spur of the moment or just displayed mere bravado amongst his fellow dwellers of the waterfront. This position is pegged on the fact that the police commissioner in the state, Mr. Bala Usman, had warned in strong terms: "Walahi, if any okada is found on the streets of Port Harcourt at one minute past midnight, (December 31, 2008/January 1, 2009), he would regret his action and be made to face the full weight of the law". Similarly, the state commissioner for transport, Mr. Tolofari George, announced that a task force had been assembled to arrest any recalcitrant commercial motorcyclist in Port Harcourt, Eleme, Obio/Akpor and Obigbo towns, from January 1, 2009.
However, the tough talk of Johnbull was razor-contrast with what transpired in some parts of the town as the countdown began in chasing the motorcyclists and tricyclists out of designated towns of Rivers State. Along the Creek Town Market, in the Yam Zone area, scores of the Okada men were seen hurling their bikes into lorries for onward movement to Ebonyi State and other parts of northern Cross River State.
Thomson Mgbachu from Ebonyi State, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard, said: "It was time to relocate to my area to continue my okada riding. I came specifically to ride okada here (Port Harcourt) and since it has been banned, so be it". Mgbachu said he was unskilled in any form of trade but completed his secondary education, after which the harsh realities of the nation's economy prevented any further pursuit in the academic realm.
To Tony Odey from Yala Council in Cross River State, "the Port Harcourt of my dream has gone with the wind. I came to this town in 1983, about 25 years ago. I have tried my hands on everything including working as a company security guard, factory supervisor, trading and finally ended up as an okada rider. But the governor has blown the whistle for us to go and park our bikes, so that's why I am going back home for good."
Again, along the Port Harcourt-Ogoni-Akwa Ibom highway, some of the embattled motorcyclists were seen strapping their household effects, such as mattresses, cooking utensils (pots and stoves) on their bikes and riding out of town to beat the deadline. While some of them were heading for Ogoni areas, others said they were relocating to Akwa Ibom State. Also, along the Obigbo stretch, the riders drove in a convoy, as they hit the road towards Imo and Abia states.
The scenario was a mixed grill of emotions for the residents of Port Harcourt and environs. While some said it was good riddance to 'road butchers', others complimented them in easing movements, "even to the remotest part of one's abode". Some traders who spoke to Sunday Vanguard recalled with nostalgia "the invaluable boost the okada riders gave to the state's economy". Mr. Paulinus Okoro said, "an okada could charge only N100 to convey about six cartons of goods from point A to B but a taxi driver would charge you over N600 for the same trip. This is where we traders would never forget their efforts."
Madam Janet Olugba, a trader, on her part, said the good side of okada in Port Harcourt outweighs the bad side. "For those us who live far from the road, we do not have to trek long from our houses before catching an okada to take us to our destinations. To a large extent, they help to carry your burden for small amount of money. They equally help to convey children to school when parents do not have cars of their own or sometimes when one is too occupied to take the children to school in the family car. We will miss Okada greatly."
But Nsirim Daniel, civil servant, said, "Those people are generally a menace. There is no
doubt that they help movement, I think that they have caused more harm and damage than they are useful. Go to the hospitals across the state and see what these people have done. Vehicles do have accidents too but the frequency is not comparable to what we experience from these motorcyclists. Only very few homes, particularly amongst the poor, would not have one gory story or another to tell about okada people.
When you climb an okada here in Port Harcourt, you must start saying a gentle prayer to your Creator for a safe ride and of course you would almost have your heart in your hand."
Mr Philemon Essien, a businessman, thinks that "any responsible government would do what the Rivers State government has done and that is to protect its people from destruction of any form. I am particularly pissed off by the lawlessness which they exhibit on the road. They don't obey traffic policemen, or traffic light. In fact, to them, there is not traffic regulation of any sort on the road. When there is an accident, they swoop on you like a swarm of bees, whether the okada man is wrong or otherwise. We have had cases where they set peoples'cars ablaze because of minor accidents involving an okada and another motorist.
They also use their motorcycles to perpetrate crimes of all sorts. The people are simply a nuisance in the society, let them go and it is really good riddance to very horrible rubbish.
Some other beneficiaries of the operations of okada, such as vulcanizers and roadside or black marketers of condensate fuel have started counting their losses. Badly hit are the adulterated petrol sellers who are mainly patronised by commercial motorcyclists. Chinwo Ndubuisi trades in fake petrol along Rainbow Town/Amadi - Ama Roundabout. He said "only okada people buy our type of petrol on a daily basis because they cannot afford to go and queue in filling stations and nothing happens to their machines. But the story is going to be different from now." Nse Udoh, a vulcanizer along Nzimiro, Old GRA, said, "okada people are mostly my customers. It is possible to stay for a whole day without patching vehicle tyres but for okada, it is every minute. I know that God will provide for us anyhow."
Commercial motorcyclists
A number of those who spoke to Sunday Vanguard said they would get used to the ban as time goes on because the populace got used to the restriction of from 6.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. as well as the restriction placed on them from plying certain roads in the state before the current total ban in some towns of the state. The state government had cited security and endless accidents as reasons for chasing the motorcyclists out of the streets of the designated towns.
The government also said an emerging 21st century city like Port Harcourt should shed itself of the presence of commercial motorcyclists. In addition to being an act of the state Assembly, a stakeholder's forum on transportation in the state gave its nod for the total ban of okada on the streets of Port Harcourt. Government, on its part, has promised to block the vacuum that would be created by the absence of the motorcyclists from the various towns where they would no longer operate. However, it not clear of what would become of the army of the unemployed that would emerge by the ban.
To this question, the government said it had not placed a total ban on okada in the state; only four out of 23 local governments are affected by the ban. Based on this, pundits were quick to say that there is no law banning relocation of people, hence those who wish to leave the city for other councils for the purpose of riding okada could do so without let or hindrance. There are those who equally argued that okada is not a trade and youths should concern themselves with acquiring a trade for their own good and the betterment of the state and country.
All said, there is nowhere in the world where people do not ride motorcycles; consequently, government should inform the populace of what becomes of individuals who have motorcycles for their private use. There is the need to educate the security agencies too that, some companies, such as courier outfits, use motorcycles for their businesses. This class of public should be allowed to operate their machines without molestation by security agents. Also, this set of people must obey the laws of the land by wearing crash helmets when plying the road.
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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)