Kayode Opeifa, executive vice-chairman, Presidential Task Team on Restoration of Law & Order on Apapa gridlock, and former special adviser on transportation and later commissioner of transportation to Babatunde Fashola, the current Nigeria’s minister of works and housing and former governor of Lagos state between 2007 and 2015 has expressed support for the ban of motorcycles in parts of Lagos State.
Opeifa said the use of motorcycles and tricycle for commuter services constituted a serious threat to the safety and security of lives of the state and expressed hope that the ban will drastically reduce the alarming rate of road crashes involving the modes of transportation within the metropolis.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had last January announced that effective February 1, commercial motorcyclists and tricyclists operating on major highways and certain roads in the metropolis will be banned. The development has attracted mixed reactions from many Lagosians since the ban came into force.
Contrary to insinuations by many road users in the state, Kayode Opeifa told BusinessDay that, the Lagos state government even under the administration of Babatunde Fashola from 2007 to 2015 did not at any point approve or issue any corporate or individual licenses to motorcycle and tricycle operators.
He declared that the recent move by the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration in Lagos state will no doubt bring sanity on the roads, lower fatality rates and reduce traffic congestion in the metropolis.
The state government he said is working hard to improve the transportation system that will make movement easy for every Lagosian. Opeifa said that as a centre of excellence, Okada and tricycle (Keke) cannot be part of the plan of a megacity like Lagos.
Criticisms have continued to trail the development on different social platforms where many despite injection of more additional buses and ferries to cushion the effects of the ban since February 1 when the ban came into effect.
While many argued that the governor reneged on his campaign promise not to ban Okada in Lagos, others based their criticisms on the state’s lack of preparedness on the resultant pains and misery that the ban will inflict on the masses.
