Millions of residents of Lagos State ride on either private or commercial motorcycles, popularly known as Okada, to their places of work on daily basis thus making it another common means of transportation.
It has indeed become an integral part of many because of its uniqueness in a city-state characterised by traffic snarl or ‘go slow’ fondly caused by visible and invisible reasons such as impatience on the part of drivers, bad roads, and autocrash on the major roads.
The Tide source sought reactions of the residents of Lagos State to the ‘menaces and merits of  Okada business  in Lagos’ and their comments and remarks were an admixture of sweet and sorrow.
Mr Boluwaji Olaiya, a resident of Ibafo in Ogun who works in the Gbagada Area of Lagos State said that he was fond of riding Okada from Ibafo to Berger, the boundary between Lagos and Ogun, so as to avoid the gridlock along that axis of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway during the working days of the week.
Olaiya said that in less than 30 minutes, he was always at Berger Bus Stop and that used to save him a lot of time, tear and wear as well as the stress passengers who boarded public uses usually encountered during ‘go slow’ on the express.
“ When the long bridge axis of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressroad was under construction, there were some of us that riding on Okada was the only means of getting to Lagos from Ibafo and its environs. The rider then was charging us N500.00 per passenger and he would transport two of us down on each trip.”
Also, Mr Dele Aboyeji, a building contractor living in Papa Asese area of Ogun and who has his office in the Surulere area of Lagos State said that on occasions when there were gridlock on the Lagos- Ibadan Expressway, Okada used to be his ‘saviour.
“I would mount it from Berger to Warewa in Ogun while returning home in the evening or going to work in the morning.
“There were times then that most passengers caught up in the traffic were robbed. That was a nasty experience which nobody will want to pray for,” Aboyeji said.
To Mr Oye Luquman, Okada is a thriving business and many able young men ride it as a means of livelihood and are today their families’ breadwinners. He added that its introduction as a means of transportation had helped in reducing unemployment in Lagos State.
He added that politicians always give out motorcycles to youths during political campaigns meaning that it had come to stay as part of the society’s means of making ends meet
According to Luquman, just as the youth use it for commercial purposes so also the elderly use it to transport their produce from the rural areas to the Expressway where they would find buyers for them.
Taiwo said that any motorcycle that is not registered would be confiscated by the command, adding that the command would meet the union leaders of the okada riders before enforcing all these directives.
Also speaking to NAN, the Chairman Ikorodu Local Government(LG), Mr Wasiu Adesina, said that the menace of commercial motorcycle was becoming a nightmare to the residents of Lagos and its numerical strength becoming more frightening as well as serving as a security risk to residents.
Adesina said due to the increase in insecurity, the local government leadership had to rejig its security architecture by initiating a joint taskforce and providing patrol vehicles for surveillance to ease movements of security personnel in all the communities within  the LG.
Adesina said that the council had to also establish a taskforce during his first tenure to restrict the movements of motorcycles since he realised that most crimes were being perpetrated with the use of motorcycles for easy escape.
“ The taskforce was initiated to restrict motorcycle from some parks and routes but the outbreak of COVID–19 pandemic in 2020 and the subsequent challenges after easing the lockdown affected the work of the taskforce.
“They stopped work and later continue, so our work in curbing the menace is still ongoing,” he said.
However, sometime last year , the Lagos State Government announced some specified roads where it said that commercial motorcyclists were restricted from plying and warned that erring defaulters  would be dealt with, he said. He urged the relevant security agencies to enforce thd rule.
The council boss said that the directive had led to some of them finding alternative routes and took solace in deploying their business in the rural areas of the state.
“We are still doing our work, we hold security meetings regularly to discuss security matters which include the menace caused by the influx of motorcycle into our local council area.
“We also discuss the way forward out of the crisis and come up with resolutions which I have been enforcing as the chairman to ensure  that my people can sleep with their two eyes closed.
According to the chairman, the LG is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring safety of lives and properties, so we will not rest until Ikorodu is safe for investors and residents.
Also Mr Sesan Oduolowu, Chairman,  Sheriff  Community Development Association (CDA ) in Ikorodu, said that it had come to the knowledge of the residents that motorcycle was the common instrument used by criminals to escape after attacking innocent citizens.
Oduolowu said in this regard, most CDA chairmen had agreed to ensure that Okadas were not allowed to enter any community after 8.00 p.m. adding that some even made theirs 7.00p.m.
He said that they had jointly agreed that the communities should ensure that they handled the security of their various communities by themselves by hiring private guards to secure them.
“We hold our meetings every month and have agreed to engage ourselves on intelligence gathering as well as ensure that commercial motorcyclists are banned from entering the community in the evening time as well as hire private security guards on our own for the safety of our people,” he said.
Mr Owolabi Efunsanya, a resident in the CDA said that the increasing number of motorcycles was as a result of lack of job or unemployment with bad road and incessant traffic jam.
Efunsanya urged government as a major employer of labour to create employment opportunities and enabling environment for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) to thrive to augment available opportunities.
He said that the government should focus more on ensuring that more youths were engaged rather than giving priorities to other sectors , while stressing that a lazy man’s brain is the devil’s workshop.
“Unemployment is a major cause of increase in crime because ‘an empty mind is a devil’s workshop’ if there is job, crime will be reduced.”
An officer with a transport union who pleaded anonymity said that government had a big role to play in checkmating the excesses caused by commercial motorcycle operators.
He said that accidents caused by Okada riders had sent some people to their early graves while some were still suffering from the injuries caused them that had led to the amputation of with their legs or other parts of their bodies.
He urged government to ban the importation of motorcycles into the country completely, saying they had become an important instrument used by hoodlums, bandits and terrorists to commit all sorts of crimes in the country.
Also, some residents of Fagbile Estate, Ijegun, a suburb of Lagos, said that  some armed robbers under the guise of Okada riders had formed the habit of frequently  attacking the residents of the estate
They told NAN in Lagos that they now live in fear due to the activities of suspected robbers.
They urged the relevant security forces to do all within their powers to crackdown on the motorbike robbers.
Mr Emmanuel Edun  said that two robbery attacks occurred in the estate in a single morning alone recently.
According to him, a young lady was robbed of her handbag, containing some valuables along Fagbile Road in the early hours of that unfortunate day.
Edun said that the robbers usually attacked women in lonely corners where they would dispossess them of their cell phones, ATM cards and other valuables.
Another resident, Mr Bartho Philip, said that a young man was recently robbed of his motorcycle in the early hours of the day not long ago in Rotimi Omotosho Street.
According to him, three young men allegedly had been surveying the area with their motorbike apparently in search of their target.
“After ridding about for some time, they stopped at the intersection between Omotosho Street and Amoje Street.
“One of them came down from the bike and brought out what looked like a locally-made gun, pointed it at the owner of the bike, snatched it and took away the bike.
“ While this was going on,  one of them started the bike that they came with while the second followed the guy with the gun and they all ride off,” Phillip said.
NAN gathered that the rider of the bike had collected it on higher purchase arrangement from its owner for N650, 000. (NAN)