Date: 2017-03-22

With rising cases of carnage on the roads, especially the ever-busy ones, usually involving commercial motorcycle operators, there has been growing concern in some quarters including the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) on the continued existence of motorcycle business in view of the trend of event. AHMED 'LATEEF reports on the divergent positions of the corps and transport stakeholders in Kwara State on the desirability of the business.

Beside taxi-cab business, which passengers are accustomed to in various parts of the country by conveying them to their point of destinations, commercial motorcycle operation is another means of transportation. Like a shuttle cab, it also moves from one route to the other.

Commercial motorcycle operation is no longer considered a second hand value business in developing nation like Nigeria as it is now massively embraced by those who see the business as last resort. Though those in the means of transportation have variety of reasons to opt for it as a means of earning a living.

For some, commercial motorcycle business otherwise known widely as Okada in local parlance is an escape route to wriggle out of financial quandary by making quick cash to meet some needs while others see it as a normal business that should either be derided or condescendingly dismissed.

In the view of those who are into commercial motorcycle operation before the public started seeing it as a work for those at the rung of the ladder, it is a business that has continued to thrive out of which they derive their daily bread.

Visits to state capitals, major cities and towns showed that Okada business has been firmly fixed into means of commercial transportation. In major cities of Lagos, Rivers, Kwara, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Lokoja and even Abuja, the nation's capital, the Okada business is thriving. It is not in anyway surprising that Okada business is gaining ground among other means of mobility from one place to another.

Apart from being seen as another means of conveyance, motorcycle is believed to be very fast in movement and also capable of navigating its way through in a chaotic traffic scene. While vehicles are ensnared in a standstill gridlock, Okada also referred to as "Achaba" could meander own way out of such scene with ease.

As pointed above, there are multitudes of reasons for people to see commercial motorcycle as a means of making livelihood. But in some cities where the business has gained ground, it was seen as last resort to mitigate the strenuous financial situation. Some also see it as an employer of labour in its own right after all it is difficult to get white collar jobs.

In Ilorin for instance, it has become a common phenomenon these days to see people in the informal sector venturing into commercial motorcycle business. The reason for this may not far fetch. Erratic power or in some instances, total darkness is what has characterized the system of electricity supply in the country.

Since it appears impossible to guarantee uninterrupted power supply and with attendant negative effects on businesses, particular vocational ones, most people in that segment of the society such as Welders, Rewinders, Electrical Appliances Engineers and the likes see justifiable reason to go into Okada business. As a result, they had abandoned their primary jobs to eke out a living.

That is why in Ilorin in particular, commercial motorcycle business has become a household name and no longer perceived as work for charlatans.

While the business seems to be booming, the price of riding on the road recklessly prevalent among the commercial motorcycle operators is costly and too much to be ignored. Sometime, many Okada riders, who rode in a careless manner either lost their lives or became permanently incapacitated in road crashes. Those who survived such gory scene are always on hand to relive their travails, full of regret.

In the business seen as last resort, the public is alarmed that some of Okada riders, with ill-motive, disguised and used the business to commit robbery, bag snatching and other social misdemeanours. However, worried by the wave of crashes involving commercial motorcycle riders, many state governments across the country had outlawed their operations while others restricted their operations to some areas considered to be more safer for them in the cities.

In some highbrow cities like Abuja, Lagos Anambra and others, Okada operation has been phased out as a result of incidences not unconnected to vices in the society beside crashes known to be principal reason.

Toeing this line recently was the Corps Marshal of Federal Road Safety Corps, Mr Boboye Oyeyemi, who also proposed that commercial motorcycle operation be proscribed in the country to systematically curb road crashes.

He said this while submitting the October Road Traffic Crash (RTC) Report 2016 to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr David Babachir Lawal. Oyeyemi believed motorcycle business is a serious menace on the nation's highways with attendant fatality and should not be allowed to be operational in the country.

According to the report, commercial motorcyclists remained a major cause of fatal road traffic accidents across the country, hence the need for state governments to consider banning them from operating.

The RTC statistics for October 2016, showed that 230 cases or 18 per cent of a total of 1,259 vehicles were involved in accidents within the month, majority were commercial motorcycles. Motorcycle accidents ranked third after cars which accounted for 457 cases or 36 per cent, followed by minibuses with 243 or 19 per cent of the total, according to the report.

"Following the outcome of the analysis, it could be concluded that motorcycle still constitutes serious menace on the nation’s highways. "Accordingly, improved results could be achieved in the future, if more state governments could consider placing a ban on the use of motorcycle for commercial purposes.

"In view of the above, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation should facilitate and encourage state governments to ban the use of motorcycle for commercial purposes".

Beside, it would also be recalled that in 2014, the National Council on Transport recommended ban of Okada business nationwide "to ensure adequate provision of safe and secure means of transportation in the country".

Speaking on the proposed outlaw of commercial motorcycle operation, the Kwara State Sector commander of the corps, Mr Sunday Maku, explained that the corps was displeased with the increasing wave of motorcycle crashes nationwide, especially in the state.

He said the call to ban the operation was borne out of the need to reduce road accident involving motorcycle riders.

Maku stated that some of the commercial motorcyclists were unruly in their conduct on the roads, saying the proscription of their operation would significantly curb crashes on the roads.

"Generally, the Okada riders have not been fairing well, because they have been perpetrating a lot of atrocities that have to do with snatching of hand bags from women going to the market, stabbing and shooting others and run away from the scene of crime.

"So, if it is considered that the way the operation of Okada is going on in the country should be eradicated, so be it. Some of them are nuisance and menace to motorists. They don't have regard to where you overtake, they overtake from the right and from the left at any given point and at given place. They don't have regard for broken rights on the road. In fact, some of them don't even know the meaning. So, you see them misbehaving anyhow.

"And it is as a result of the fact that they don't give themselves out for training. If you go to their parks to give them sensitization, within five or 10 minutes, they are always in a hurry to go and carry passengers. They are always after the money they will make. They are not ready to listen

"We have carried public enlightenment to their places, we have invited them for public enlightenment in our offices. If they will come, they will not stay for long, you will see them trooping out one after the other. So, starting from their attitude of not yielding to training, they are not too good for us on the road.

"Apart from that, they are not equally ready. Some of them don't have driver's license, no Number Plate on most of the motorcycles they are using, no vehicle papers. They commit a host of unwholesome manners, characters and attitudes that do not warrant them being on public roads. With all these that I have mentioned, they could be removed. If they could be removed from the roads, definitely, it is going to be better of for the public.

"More so that we have tricycle now, we have taxis in town, we have buses and some other things like that. Where the taxis and buses could not reach when they carry passengers, the tricycles are there to reach the suburbs and interiors, and I think that will suffice.

"From January 2017 till this moment, we have recorded 30 crashes regarding Okada. And between January 2016 and March 2017, we have more than 100 crashes involving Okada. And in most cases, the Okada riders either run into you or they jump into your front and you run into them. And unfortunate side of it is that whenever there is a crash like that, the Okada riders would not want to know what happen, they would converge on the motorist. They want to mob, they want to burn his car, they want to kill and want to do a lot of things not knowing that the person that must have done wrong, would be their own Okada colleague.

"They don't listen, am sorry to say this, some of them are educated but you have most of them that are half-baked, so they don't even know how to behave in the public in the first place. Of course, to crown it all, some of them might be into drug and alcoholic beverages. Coupled with that, they use ear-piece when they ride their motorcycles, they don't listen to hurn. They put music in their machines. So, there are a lot of things they are doing that are not good for the road and traffic.

"They have been losing themselves like chickens, they have been maimed, and they have been maiming others. Because in most cases when crashes occur on motorcycles, it doesn't affect the riders per se, it affects the passenger at the back. And what causes it is that they carry overload. You can see machine, they White People made the machine for only the rider and one other passenger.

"In Nigeria and in Ilorin, you see four or six people on a machine. Because we are black, we behave in a blackish manner, which is not the right thing for us. We have done a lot to sensitize them. I can say the incident is reducing compared to other previous years", Maku said.

However, the state President, Joint Okada Riders Association, Alhaji Abdulraheem Akanbi (Sai Kano), believed that such proposal was made in bad faith. He stated that banning commercial motorcycle business in the country would throw the riders and their dependants into hardship.

Akanbi, who acknowledged that there are bad eggs in his association just like any other organization, said a task force was set up to arrest any Okada riders within his membership perceived to be indulging in criminal act.

He maintained that there has been significant improvement in public safety since the state government streamlined commercial motorcycle business in the state, adding that members who were hitherto distributed into 68 associations now belonged to seven groups courtesy of the proactiveness of the state government.

"To start with, we see our government in Kwara State as one that is sensitive to the issues that surrounding the welfare of the masses and should therefore dismiss any proposal asking it to ban Okada operation in the state. We are saying this because our operation has come a long way.

"Without any iota of doubt, there are reasons for the existence of everything in this life. But because of cooperation and support of the state government, commercial motorcycle operation has positively changed in this state. When our members were divided along different cleavages without any check, some from National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), others from Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), it was the state government that mustered the courage to whip all of us in line.

"Before our membership was restructured in this state, we had about 68 associations but because of the cooperation of the state government in collaboration with other stakeholders, the number had been pruned down to seven groups. These included NURTW, RTEAN, Commercial, Heritage, Champion, Happiness and Awareness. None of these groups is working without the consent of the joint association duly approved by the state government.

"Since the government came in, we have been having a smooth operation. The blemish attached to our activities in the past such as bag snatching, robbery and other vices, had been nipped in the bud. Like society that we are, we have had this terrible experience long ago and we have been able to overcome it. We thank God those involved in these social ills are being arrested.

"Everybody has his own motorcycle. But it is saddening that whenever any unfortunate incident happens involving motorcyclist on the road, the public passes the buck to commercial motorcycle riders. But you will not see those who are authentic riders, duly registered with our uniform in that kind of thing.

"What government should have done is to redesign its security architecture and beef up security in the state afterward. You can see that after Okada operation in the state, we have tricycles too and even small buses that also shuttle here and there", Akanbi said.

On motorcycle crashes and anti-social conducts allegedly perpetrated by commercial motorcycle riders, which prompted the proposition of the FRSC boss, the state President of Joint Okada Riders Association said there was no way a bonafide member of the union would involve criminal activities with the measures put in place.

He said, "Because of these vices, we set up a task force among our members. This task force operates in all local government areas of the state. They are always on roads for monitoring. Wherever they are, no member of ours will dare indulge in any infraction. We have been assisting security agencies to curtail criminal activities.

"Let me say that you will not see an authentic commercial motorcycle rider in criminal venture. But we must also emphasize that there is no group or society that is immune from deficiencies. We want to thank the state government for restructuring our associations unlike before that we scattered around.

"From time to time, the state government has not relented on issues surrounding commercial motorcycle operation in the state. They have been in constant touch with us. Recently, we met with KWARMA and police at Government House, Ilorin on the need to follow the rules and regulations while on the road. We want to therefore appeal to the government to jettison such recommendation to ban commercial motorcycle operation. This idea is ill-timed now that the operation has become more popular in the city", he said.