With yet another ban recently announced on the operations of commercial motorcycles, also known as Okada on certain routes within Lagos, the state government is renewing one of its longest running battles.
The renewed ban came up after the killing of a sound engineer, Sunday Imoh on May 12, 2022, by a mob of motorcyclists in the upscale Lekki phase-one area of the state.
Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor of Lagos state, had on May 18, declared that from June 1st, there will be a ban on Okada riders in six local government areas of the state; Eti-Osa, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, Surulere, Apapa, and Ikeja.
It follows a similar proclamation in 2020 that included nine local council development areas (LCDAs), and ten major highways across Lagos state.
In a press release issued in 2020, Gbenga Omotoso, the commissioner for Information and Strategy, had said Okada and tricycle riders’ disregard for Lagos Traffic Laws had resulted in avoidable deaths, as well as their illegal movements on restricted highways, which had contributed to traffic jams.
The Lagos State Transport Sector Reform Law 2018, states that “no Page 2 person shall ride, drive or propel a motorcycle or tricycle on a major highway within the state.” Successive Lagos state governors have attempted to ban the operations of Okada in the state but with little results till date.
In a Twitter Space recently held by BussinessDay, Toye Sobande, a lawyer, strategy, and innovation expert, remarked that there is a need for a regulatory structure for transportation in Nigeria since this will allow the government to acquire data on people who ride bikes.
He also stated that the regulation has to come from an economic point of view, and also from a security point of view with health and life inclusive.
Bikes are considered the last-mile mode of transportation for many parts of Lagos, offering convenience and are especially popular with people trying to beat traffic congestions, a major feature of Lagos. Despite improvements to public transportation, such as the introduction of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), motorbikes have a reputation for gliding through traffic and getting to places on time, though this is now limited.
Confidence MacHarry, an analyst at SBM Intelligence said the effect of the ban will cause major disruptions in daily commute and sap productive hours for residents who depend on the bikes for quick transportation.
Segun Awosanya, founder and president of the social intervention advocacy foundation, also in the Twitter space said that the government should begin to view the problem from the economic perspective, which was the first mistake when ride hailing operators (Gokada, Max etc) were run out of business.
On his part, Odewunmi Samuel, a professor and immediate past dean of the school of transport and logistics, Lagos state university, told BusinessDay that the bike hailing companies such as OPay should be reinstated since they can be regulated and there will be a database for motorcyclists.
Awosanya had also noted that such companies had profiles of the bike riders, making it easier to track and create a database.
“If the ban had not affected bike-hailing, it would have been easier to regulate motorcycles in the state against the nuisance a larger proportion of them have constituted,” Odewunmi said.
A timeline of efforts to rein in Okada operations in Lagos, starts in July 2005, when Bola Ahmed Tinubu, then governor of the state, threatened to ban their activities, citing their destructive behaviour in the face of the slightest provocation as well as the nuisance they constituted in the state.
In 2012, Babatunde Fashola made a law, barring okada from plying certain routes in the state, including Ikorodu Road, Funsho Williams Avenue, Apapa-Oshodi Express, Lagos-Badagry, and Lekki-Epe expressways, among others.
Akinwunmi Ambode, as governor in 2015 attempted to enforce a total ban on the okada operation, but his efforts were unsuccessful and ineffective until he left office.
After, an earlier attempt of putting a ban on their operation in 2020, banning the activities of Okada and even tricycle operators in 15 local LGAs and LCDAs on 10 major highways and 40 bridges and flyovers across the state, the recent announcement becomes the state government’s latest attempt to rein in the Okada riders.
Read also: Lagos crushes thousands of seized ‘okadas’
According to MacHarry, there is no guarantee that the government would have a better implementation plan for any policy it enacts at this time.
“Policy implementation has been the bane of legislations in Nigeria for much of its history, Lagos is also a victim of it”, MacHarry said.
For Odewunmi stated, “Transport is a demand-driven need, people use transportation because they need it. One method to effectively abolish it totally is by arresting passengers because they are the ones who provide the market for it. When individuals are aware that they may be arrested if they use the service, they will avoid it, and the riders will not have the demand/market to operate on the road, then the ban is effective,”
It has also been argued that the ban will increase unemployment in the state, and addressing this, Omotoso, the commissioner of information and strategy, said Okada is not the sole source of income and those desirous of starting a business, could approach the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund, make a proposal, and seek funding for their trade, or to learn a trade.
