THIS DAY - Tuesday
Addressing Okada Menace in Lagos
11.27.2008
The seismic intrusion of commercial motorcycling popularly referred to as "Okada" into our nation transportation system has remained a mystery and a great source of worry to discerning Nigerians. Nobody can actually give a vivid detail on when Okada riding became part of the Nigerian transportation culture. But like a thief in the night, the thing crept into our collective psyche. Ever since, it has refused to let go. How this method of transportation dislodged the conventional method of the taxicab should be a study better left for another day. But there is a school of thought that suggests they crept into Lagos and other towns in Nigeria through areas designated as outskirts, undeveloped and plagued with roads that could be described as death tracks. Such areas suffered a dearth of other transportation modes and those savvy enough to recognize the opportunity soon made a tidy second income by providing transportation service using motorcycles. Our leaders never envisaged its rippling effect thereafter otherwise it could have been nipped in the bud.
Specifically, at the centre of excellence, Okada has become an ubiquitous feature instead of rendering service, assumed a nuisance value. The operators are ill trained on the rules and regulations guiding traffic. Being an all comer's vocation, its operators include people from a variegated hue and backgrounds. From the young university graduate who dabbles into the job for lack of good paying jobs, to the Area Boy who sees it as the simplest form of vocation, at least better than what he is used to; and from the common tout on the street to a new migrants from the remote towns and villages outside Lagos with little or no training on simple traffic etiquette, Okada riding has become the latest means of livelihood to many while placing the city on the edge and a stretch on its infrastructures.
Its disadvantages in no small measure, far exceeds or outweighs it advantages considering too, the fact that Okada came into our lives when other countries of the world were moving forward and introducing the twenty-first century's transportation systems strategies. We choose to turn a blind eye to the changes and requirement but choose to remain adamant and archaic while moving on as if nothing was amiss.
Okada, like all motorcycles elsewhere, have a far higher rate of crippling and fatal accidents per unit distance than automobiles. A study conducted in the USA in 2004 showed that while about 15.0 cars out of 100,000 ended up in fatal crashes, the rate for motorcycles was 69.3 per 100,000._A study conducted at the Obafemi Awolowo Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife in 1998, showed that injuries to the limb as a result of Okada crashes occurred at the rate of 79.3% of its patients who reported at the emergency department of that hospital. It also identified the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) to be practically nonexistent among most Okada riders
It has exposed the drivers and passengers to untold dangers. Mangled ribs, broken legs, fractured skulls among others, are some of the harsh legacies left by Okada. Its horrendous and terrible impact on the lives of the people cannot be quantified. On daily basis, the news media are awash on its capabilities to be an easy channel to the great beyond. Everyday cases of Okada accidents are reported, while some are lucky, majority of its victims never live to tell their story. The killing of the Sun Newspapers head of operation, Mr Martin Akirijin while minding his business at a bus stop, by a speeding Okada rider a couple of days ago is a fresh case in point. The building of a ward for Okada accidents victim within the premises of the National Orthopedic Hospital Igbobi ought to have alerted the authority to the emergency at our hands which requires urgent action.
On security, crime index rose astronomically in the city of Lagos with the Okada incursion more so, as navigating with motorcycle is vey much easy for criminals than other types of vehicles hence the proliferation of Okada friendly crimes. Not too long ago, banks in Victoria Island were terrorized by a mob of Okada robbers who came to rattle them in their hundreds. On the daily traffic snarls, Okada robbers takes advantage to steal phones, handbags, money and other valuables at gunpoint.
Okada have been criticized also for their roles in causing or exacerbating traffic congestions in the cities where they operate. Cases also occur of gang beatings where Okada riders take on offending and most often times, innocent motorists during accidents and setting of vehicles on fire. That is the reality in Lagos of today. The most ridiculous part is that they breach traffic laws; riding against traffic pretending not be part of that law. Riding on median is another culture, and the one that readily comes to mind is the Ketu/Ojota, Ikorodu road median, here, the authority if possible ought to be sanctioned for dereliction of their responsibility. Caution is thrown to the wind. These walkway have been turned into an Okada highway; they ply both the road and the median like a man stung by bees and everybody is getting along pretending not to be bordered; the same applies to third mainland bridge.
It will be recalled that the former governor of Lagos state, Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu at a point verbally ban Okada riders from the bridges in the metro police and restricted them to the streets but this instruction was not adhered to because there was no political will to implement the order. So as you read this, all the major bridges in Lagos is recording high volume of Okada movement. A learner can buy a motorcycle today and put it on the road immediately same day with the unsuspecting passenger not aware of the looming danger ahead. Are they bigger than the state? Why can't the state effectively deal with the situation once and for all? How effective are our regulatory agencies mandated with the responsibility of overseeing these people, do we have any? If we do, it calls for a total overhaul.
•Tony Nwajei,
Lagos
