THESE may indeed not be the of times for operators of commercial motorcyclists, popularly called Okada operators, across the country as the number of states that are outlawing their operations on certain highways keep increasing by the day.

As at the last count, not less than five state governments in addition to the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Abuja, had put a halt to the operation of commercial motorcyclists in some areas within their jurisdictions. Among the states include Rivers, Imo, Abia, Enugu, Anambra and Lagos. Others are expected to follow suit in the coming days, all in a bid to curb excesses of the commercial motorcyclists, particularly rising accidents and the growing incidence of crimes perpetrated by criminals using this ubiquitous means of transport.

The Federal Capital Territory was the first to impose the ban of commercial motorcyclists in its jurisdiction, allowing them to only operate in the satellite towns in the nation’s seat of power. This was in early 2006 under the then minister in-charge of the territory, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai. Subsequently other states joined, firstly by restricting the time during which commercial motorcyclists were to operate. Many of these states are now extending the restrictions to outright ban in certain areas within their jurisdiction.

Just last Monday, June 29, 2009, the Lagos State Government, joined the states which have banned commercial motorcycle riders otherwise called Okada riders from major highways in the state in a bid to curb incessant occurrence of auto accidents in the state.

The decision of the state government was conveyed to the commercial motorcyclists by the Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola on Transportation, Kayode Opeifa.

According to him, the steps became necessary because of the need to control and regulate the Okada operations so as to reduce the alarming rate of avoidable accidents and its attendant social implication.

Opeifa while conveying the ban to executives of the two Okada unions in the state at a meeting in Ikeja, expressed the displeasure of the state government over the flagrant abuse of traffic rules and regulations by Okada riders in the state, noting the measures put in place by government to curtail the excesses of the motorcyclists.

"These include the outright banning of Okada on all major highways, expressways and roads in the state, the restriction to one passenger, total compliance to driving against traffic and strict obedience to traffic lights amongst others", Opeifa said.

The government however urged the unions’ leaders in the state to warn its members not to compel government to take far reaching sanctions against the commercial motorcycle operators.

A few days before the Lagos State government barred Okada operators from operating on highways in the state, precisely on Friday, June 26, 2009, the Abia State Government had also ordered commercial motorcyclists no longer to operate in nine Local government councils in the state. The councils are Aba and Umuahia metropolis, Obingwa, Ugwunagbo, Isiala Ngwa North and South, Osisioma Ngwa, Ukwa East and West.

The ban, which was imposed via a government special announcement issued by Mr. Sam Hart, the chief press secretary to the state governor, stated that the measure would subsist until an appreciable improvement is noticed in the security situation in the state.

And to give effect to the ban, government authorised security agencies to confiscate any motorcycle found to be contravening the ban, urging all and sundry to comply.

In imposing the ban, the government in the statement stated that it observed with dismay that most of the incidences of kidnapping and armed robbery perpetrated in the state were carried out with the use of motorcycles that aid the criminals’ easy escape after carrying out their nefarious activities.

"This ugly development has persisted despite several meetings government held with commercial motorcycle operators to sanitize their operations and find a way to weed out bad elements in their midst", the statement said.

It added that government took the decision as part of its responsibility to safeguard the lives and properties of the citizenry after due consideration with all relevant stakeholders

On its part, the Imo State Government also early last month outlawed the operation of commercial motorcyclists in Owerri, the state capital. To cushion the effects of the ban on commuters as well as ensure that the former Okada operators were given a fresh lease of life, the Governor Ikedi Ohakim-led administration released over 450 tri-cabs for commuters.

Speaking on the ban, the state Information and Strategy commissioner, Dr. Amanze Obi said that apart from help in reducing accidents and crime, the ban was a way of "saving the operators from self-dehumanization by bringing them out from that thing they were doing".

While restating measures put in place by the state government to cushion the effects of the ban, Obi however said commercial motorcyclists who are not comfortable with the ban in the Owerri metropolis could go elsewhere.

"Besides, this ban is not everywhere in Imo State, it is just within the Owerri metropolis, so they can go to Okigwe, they can go to Orlu, they can go to Oguta, they can go to any other rural areas and operate their motorcycles", Obi said.

The Enugu State government had also in April this year approved the ban of commercial motorcycles and tricycles from plying on the dual carriage and expressways within the metropolis.

It would also be recalled that the Rivers State government on January1, this year, banned the operations of commercial motorcyclists in Port Harcourt, the state capital. Other areas in the state where Okada operators were banned from operating were Eleme, Obio-Akpor and Oyigbo local council areas. Operators were asked to look for alternative means of livelihood.

Governor Amaechi while making public the ban, explained that his decision to ban Okada was painful. He said his dilemma stemmed from the fact that the business was benefitting the poor but he had to do it so that he could face squarely the challenges of transportation in the state. He appealed to the people to accept the ban, saying Okada is not a safe and dignified means of transportation.

Ogbonna Nwuke, the State commissioner for Information at the time of the ban justified it, arguing that commercial motorcyclists have not only been linked with most of the crimes committed in the city but have also been responsible for the daily carnage on the roads, as they are involved in countless road accidents.

"We cannot continue to watch from the side lines while lives of our people are wasted recklessly on a daily basis on the roads.

"Beyond the nuisance of the riders on the major streets of Port Harcourt and their flagrant disregard of traffic rules, is the involvement of operators in various armed robbery operations in the state capital", Nwuke said.

The gains, pains

The barring of commercial motorcyclists from operating in certain areas by some state government is being percieved as a step in the right direction by a good number of Nigerians in view of the benefits, just as others see the ban as inflicting pains on both Okada riders as well as commuters.

Commenting, Ebele Ugwu, a student in Lagos told Saturday Champion that the ban will certainly reduce accidents involving Okada riders, noting that she has always felt uncomfortable with the risks Okada transportation exposes people to.

"I have never been too comfortable with Okada.

"The accident risk there is very real largely as a result of the recklessness of the operators and the state of our transport system.

"Consequently, I have always wished that we could find a way to avoid the need for that form of transportation," she said.

Ugwu, however, said that dark side of the ban has to do with the consequences it would exert on the socio-economic life of the operators. She opined that such drastic action "shouldn’t be contemplated if no ready alternative source of livelihood has been put in place for the affected persons."

Contributing, Okwudili Igwilo, an IT specialist in Lagos said the ban will reduce the number of people who are daily being maimed as a result of accidents involving motorcycles.

According to him, commercial motorcycle operators popularly known as Okada have in recent time become "a serious pain in the neck as far as transportation in Lagos and other parts of the country is concerned", adding that with the ban, this is expected to change.

"The ban will return some level of sanity to our roads and may be the first step towards our gradual shift to more modern means of transport because other nations are leaving us behind", John Ocholo, a banker noted.

Also speaking, Kola Oluwasegun a commercial bus driver reasoned that the ban will drastically reduce the rate of carnage on roads.

"These Okada riders are always very reckless and are constituting nuisance on roads", he said.

However, for Nnamdi Uzoma, an Okada operator, the ban on Okada opreations in certain areas by some state governments in the country is adding to the pains of operators, saying the ban will throw many into the unemployment market.

"There are few opportunities for gainful employment in the formal sector of the economy, so this ban will worsen the plight of the growing band of Nigerians who are today making a living from Okada business".

Uzoma who said commercial motorcycle transport is a business which people adopt as a result of hardship in the country, noted that most people in the trade are already poverty stricken and losing their jobs via this ban would amount to a fatal blow on them.

"There are no factories or industries in most of these states banning Okada from operating in certain areas. So, where we can go and get job. Banning us this way is like sending us out for more suffering.

Uzoma argued that the contention of the state governments invoking the ban on Okada that the business encourages crime is not supportable given that, according to him, crime has always been a notable feature of Nigerian cities even before Okada business became much in vogue.

"I see no reason why they should be blaming Okada for all the crimes committed in the society. They should just find another reason to give us because what they are saying currently cannot be right," he said.

While Kehinde Adejumo, a businessman aggreed that Okada business aids robbery and other crimes, he however said that taking a lot of people out of business by banning Okada opreators from certain areas would rather aggravate the situation.

Said he: "But I would still caution that much as we take positive steps to arrest the problem of crime, we should be careful not to take actions that are likely to worsen the situation.

"My particular worry here is that by banning Okada from operating in certain areas, these governors are chasing a lot of people out of lawful employment and their next step, predictably, may be to try out unlawful ones.

"So, I sincerely advise that we begin to think of ways of strengthening our public security machinery to make them more responsive to the worsening criminal situation in the country. Ultimately, the problem would definitely not lie in banning Okada".

Other respondents who spoke concurred that the most painful aspect of the ban is the fact that it has the capacity of throwing a good number of Nigerians into the job market, insisting that affected state governments must do something quickly to contain the problem of unemployment and resultant security risk that could come with the ban.

But very importantly, most of the people who spoke to Saturday Champion expressed the fear that ban on Okada from operating in some areas will have a very serious destabilizing effect on the nation’s transport system, especially within towns and cities.

They argued that Okada remains a very useful and indispensable means of transport considering the prevailing situation in the country’s transport system.

Yemisi Alawode, a dealer in textile materials in Balogun market, Lagos, for example said Okada riders are providing critical services to Nigerians, which are not being provided by cars and buses, adding that the ban is just a way to inflict more pains on commuters.

"In many of our cities, the roads are not accessible by cars and buses. Even where the roads are in somewhat good conditions, taxis and buses in most cases do not take passengers to the exact place(s) they are going to. They stop at the bus stops with passengers having to trek to their destinations, sometimes long distances. But these commercial motorcyclists will take passengers to wherever they are going. You only need to pay them the agreed fare," she said.

Supporting Alawode’s view, Stanley Okwosa, a dealer in Electronics in Alaba market, Ojo, Lagos while accusing the state governments who have banned commercial motorcyclists from operating in certain areas within their jurisdictions of betrayal, said the ban may aggravate the security situation in the country.

"This action rather than stop the commission of criminal acts has the capacity of creating an army of criminals as there is hardly for now any alternative means of livelihood for thousands of youths formerly in Okada business".

Okwosa however advised the affected Okada riders to enforce their fundamental human rights by taking the governments of their respective states to court.

"I’m of the view that Okada riders in the states where their operations have been banned should go to court to enforce their fundamental rights as guaranteed by the constitution. By going to court to get an injunction, they can stop their state government from going ahead with the ban.

"What happens most of the time is that we leave things like this unchallenged, thus emboldening people in government. If we as individuals and organizations learn to challenge actions of government which appear to be against our fundamental rights, as well as our interest, the outcome of such cases may likely be in our favour and this will stop all the nonsense being perpetrated by people in authority", Okwuosa said.