Daily Independent (Lagos)
Victor Ebimomi
6 January 2009
A new wind of change is blowing on Lagos roads with regard to the operation of commercial motorcyclists otherwise known as okada. Since January 1, the okada riders, who hitherto never gave a qualm about the way and manner their activities were endangering their lives and more importantly those of their passengers, were forced to amend their ways and face the reality of their existence on the roads.
The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) had on that day made the implementation of the compulsory use of helmet a New Year gift to the riders. And because the commission had already given the riders enough grace to acquire the helmets, its officers swooped on the violators-----and the result was the arrest of more than 1,000 of them across the state within hours. The policy, according to Lagos Sector Commander of FRSC, Kayode Olagunju, is borne out of the need to curb the rising cases of accidents and casualties involving motorcyclists in Lagos metropolis.
Lagos recorded no fewer than 56,419 casualties in road accidents within the metropolis between 1998 and June 2008 and this figure, said the Sector Commander, included 10,471 motorcycle crashes.
Under the new order, violators risk a fine of N2, 000 or six months in jail and any law enforcement agent could arrest them. As a matter of fact, the New Year operation was conducted by both men of the FRS and the police.
Since then the story has never been the same again, as the riders have imbibed an entirely new culture of using helmet. They now scramble to get the mandatory two helmets per okada.
At first, many of them were skeptical about the enforceability of the policy, but when they saw the zeal and the determination of the proponents and the jail term slated for offenders, they were forced to have a rethink. Today, it is a common on Lagos roads to see hitherto lawless okada riders don helmets while on duty. "You know this is a Federal Law from FRSC. It will not be easy," said a rider at Ikeja, who equipped himself with two new crash helmets, even as he boasted that his were the type recommended by FRSC.
Because of the rush for the purchase of the helmets, there is now attendant rise in prices from a mere N2, 000 to between N7, 000 and N8, 000 and those who cannot afford the price have technically deserted the roads, as policemen are allegedly making a kill of the policy.
Despite the high prices, Secretary of the Caretaker Committee of Motorcycle Operators Association of Lagos State (MOALS), Apapa Branch and Chairman MOALS Ajeromi-Ifelodun Council, Alhaji Ibrahim Abiodun, said the compliance rate among the association's members in the state is already about 70 per cent.
He said because the association considers the new policy as something geared towards the safety of the riders, it is a welcome idea and that a seminar was even held on December 2 where all the executive members were mandated to order their members to always embrace the use of helmets at all times.
"We are no more selling tickets to riders without helmets. We want to differentiate full-time okada rider from fakes," he said, even as he added that the enforcement ought to have been in operation since last year but for the appeal for its postponement.
The MOALS chieftain lamented the scarcity of helmets to the extent that some people had to travel as far Ilorin, Kwara State, in search of the product but to no avail. He added that Cotonou in Benin Republic is now where people go to get helmets despite the distance, stressing that "it is the stubborn ones among the riders that believe the law would not work" and that such people should be ready to face the music once caught.
Abiodun added that inasmuch as the association is willing to cooperate with the authority regarding the use of helmet, the introduction of road worthiness and hackney permit are too much a burden to bear by the members, arguing that since they already have rider's card and tax clearance, the government should be magnanimous to let them go for either road worthiness or hackney permit.
And the major lamentation the helmet brouhaha has brought to the association is that it has affected the daily revenue generated through sales of tickets because of those riders have decided to stay back because of lack of helmets.
As the association is complaining about low revenue generation so also are some members of the public raising eyebrows over the compulsory use of the helmets. They maintained that it could make them venerable to contacting diseases and or falling victims to ritualists who could easily pretend as riders and lace the passenger's helmet with charms. Besides, the ladies are frowning with new policy because they see it as capable of altering their hairdos.
"What type of wahala is this? a woman asked rhetorically on Monday morning, as she was asked to put on the helmet by a rider at Marine Road Park, Apapa. Even some men (and women too) would only wear that helmet after they must have wrapped their heads with either handkerchief any other thing to avoid direct contact with their heads. But despite the flurry of complaints by some people, there are clear indications that the riders are not willing to get into collision with the law. Apart from refusing to pick anyone not willing to don the passenger's helmet, some of the helmets they parade are those meant for construction sites and factories just to escape the wrath of the law.
"The police are the problem. They have put the whole thing on their heads, as if they are the ones who made the rule. So we have to look for any helmet by all means," said a rider on condition of anonymity.
Another rider, who gave his name simply as Friday and displayed two brand new helmets which he said he had bought since last year in anticipation of the new order, said what motivated him was the fear of prison. "If it is only the fine I may not bother. I will just be avoiding the police and other security agents, but I don't want to go to six months in prison," he said.
Okada riders are noted for their over-speeding and it is one trade where the operators do not undergo any formal training. It is for every Tom, Dick and Harry who can afford to purchase a bike. Besides, their operational routes are not defined, as such they ply every part of the state, including the Express roads. Based on these, some analysts, who have hailed the enforcement of the helmet, are of the opinion that the FRSC should also turn its searchlight on the area of over-speeding.
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