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The President, Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle, Tricycle Owners, Riders, Repairers Association of Nigeria, Samsudeen Apelogun, speaks to GODFREY GEORGE about the impact of the state ban on operation of commercial motorcycles, popularly known as okada, in Lagos and some other major cities across the country
How do you react to the proposed nationwide ban on okada?
The government does not have any plan or sympathy for the masses in their agenda. The hard way, for them, is the only way. We resorted to working as motorcyclists to earn a livelihood because we did not want to engage in any illicit business that will tarnish the image of our families and the reputation of our communities.
Our organisation is registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission and is being supervised by the Ministry of Transportation. Everything was going well until we were told that the government had decided to ban us. In fact, for some time, it has been all about banning and they haven’t given any cogent reason to write home about. They will say it is due to the rate of okada accidents; they will say okada riders are working as transporters for terrorists, which is false. But we should be careful not to turn the commercial motorcyclists into another terrorist group.
In Nigeria right now, the Academic Staff Union of Universities is on strike and the government is still battling how to end to this crisis. Yet, in the middle of that, they are banning okada. I want to remind them that an idle hand is the devil’s workshop, as they say. Some of those who are supposed to be in school have taken to riding okada. Imagine taking that away from them! If you push them to the streets now, we are looking at the future Boko Haram, ISWAP and bandits. The late Obafemi Awolowo said, “If we fail to train the children of the masses; the children of the masses that we fail to train won’t allow ours to have rest.” That is what they want.
Is it possible for someone to ride okada from morning till night and still be a criminal? How possible is it? It is not possible in any way. Everybody has a reason why they became an okada rider; and now that government is talking about banning okada, I don’t know what they want these people to do. We are well-trained; we organise seminars and training to educate our members often on what they should do and not do. Believe me; I don’t see any ACOMORAN member being a criminal or capable of committing any crime.
As you have alluded to, criminality is one major reason why the Lagos State Government, for instance, banned okada in major local government areas in the state. Are you saying that is not enough reason to ban okada?
The reason for the ban on okada in Lagos still beats me to date. Fifty per cent of the roads in Lagos are dilapidated. When they fix all the roads, people won’t see motorcycles as an option. After all, we graduated from bicycles to motorcycles, then to tricycles and cars. Rome was not built in a day. Now, they banned okada, but there is no proposal stating what the alternative will be. It just shows that the government doesn’t have the interest of the masses at heart.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, almost 70 per cent of the Nigerian teeming youths are still unemployed as of today. So, when the government is proposing to do something, measures should be put in place to take care of those that will be negatively affected. Our proposals should be what will absorb or accommodate these people that will lose their means of livelihood; government’s policy shouldn’t alienate them. It is not just to say they should be arrested, their motorcycles confiscated and destroyed. What is the benefit? What kind of signal are they sending to the youths? I know an okada rider who has first class in Microbiology. He resorted to riding okada after searching for a job to no avail. Now that you have banned okada, what do you expect him to do?
I don’t think the government thought this ban through. When you want to collect cake from a child, you will give the child bread or something similar in exchange. Banning okada can never be the solution to any problem. It is like rubbing insult on an injury. When there was a problem in the aviation sector, the government went there to make sure they sanitise the system and make it work. They should do the same for us. We need collaboration with the government.
The issue of banditry and terrorism is a nightmare in the country right now, and it is one of the major reasons cited for the ban on okada, as it is said that terrorists and other criminal elements now use okada in their operations. Is this not enough reason for the ban?
Is okada the only means of transportation for these terrorists? When the Chibok girls were abducted in 2014, the terrorists didn’t use motorcycles. They used trucks. When they went to Bauchi, they didn’t use okada. When they went to Kaduna to adduct students and their teachers, were they put on okada and transported to the bush? These terrorists, as we have come to know, use many sophisticated weapons. Is okada also to blame? It is only God that can protect us in Nigeria, and they should not attribute the movement of terrorists to okada. Can one cut off his head because of a headache? These terrorists do not use the kind of motorcycles used for commercial purposes for their criminal activities. Go and check. They use desert-friendly motorcycles. They are not within our towns. If these terrorists can confront the convoy of the President of Nigeria, then, you will know that they are not okada riders. We even have some information that they may not be Nigerians. It is not the fault of okada riders. They shouldn’t shift the blames to us.
How about the issue of accidents on the highways and streets caused by the recklessness of many an okada rider?
The number of okada in Lagos is around 10 per cent (of the vehicles on the road) because there are other associations working in Lagos State. I don’t want to shift the blames to any other sister union. We, in ACOMORAN, are trying our best and we are nationwide-covered. There is no nook and cranny in Nigeria that we have not covered. We are trying our best to make sure that these accidents are cut down to the barest minimum. We have a cordial relationship with the Ministry of Transportation and other relevant agencies in Nigeria. We have contacted a consultant and a professor of transport to educate our members on how to properly use okada. We are starting with 600 of our members first. We didn’t just fold our hands. Since I came on board, there has been no retreat or surrender. Motorcycle accidents do not fall in the first place as the major cause of accidents in the country. The thing is that the people in government have alternatives; that is why they are banning and restricting okada. If one has an accident in a car, would one not use another car to convey the victim to the hospital? It is because people in government believe that we are at the lowest rung of society ladder.
Has the leadership of ACOMORAN had any engagement with the government at any level on this issue?
If you go to Kano, where okada was banned, it was done with the knowledge of the major stakeholders there. Governor Abdullahi Ganduje and former Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso bought thousands of tricycles to replace the okada they banned. And it wasn’t a blanket ban as Lagos has done. The problem with Lagos is that they did not provide any alternatives. The cars they provided were basically made open to their people. The conditions also given were too stringent. One must have millions of naira before one can be a beneficiary. An okada rider that may not have seen up to N1m in his entire life, is it possible for him to gather N2m or N4m that they are talking about? Of course, they cannot afford it. This would lead to chaos.
I feel the Lagos State Government does not consider what we do as important. They have enough Internally Generated Revenue. They forget that the primary objective of government is to see to the safety and welfare of citizens. I heard from a government official that when they banned okada in some local governments, the crime rate reduced drastically. I don’t know the statistics they used to arrive at that conclusion. In some states in Nigeria, as of today, they cannot do without the use of okada. Our members in Kano are staunch supporters of the state government because the government works hand-in-hand with them to mitigate these problems. That is what we are drawing the attention of His Excellency, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu to.
Does your association have any internal mechanism for fishing out bad elements and punishing them?
Within the ambits of the law, we are trying our possible best to contribute immensely to the socio-economic development of Nigeria. Also, we educate our members all the time. We even had a security summit today (Thursday, September 8) in Ogun State. We are also planning a leadership retreat on October 4 and 5, 2022, at the Musa Yar’Adua Event Centre, Abuja, where we will honour former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, for the support he gave us when he was in office. He said that banning okada in Nigeria would worsen insecurity in the country, and he prevailed on all the government parastatals, telling them why they don’t need to ban okada.
In Nigeria, there is freedom of expression, association and the like. We have over 12 million members in ACOMORAN who we are answerable to the association. I don’t believe that any of our members can do anything that will tarnish the image of the association. But by and large, we believe that in any group or association, there must be a Judas. But that Judas won’t be comfortable staying among us, because we just introduced a mobile application called ACOMORAN. We must have every okada rider and commuter’s data. If any rider uses their okada to commit any crime, he can be traced and fished out. Definitely, they will be smoked out and handed over to the authorities. It is not that we have reached the peak but we are still moving. We will get it done.
Do you have a record of your erring members who have been fished out and punished?
Yes, of course. When the Federal Ministry of Transport gave us a consultant on contract, a lot of our members were registered, and we are ready to give the government any support they need from us. We are ready to cooperate with them.
Okadas are quite expensive, but they are being crushed en masse in Lagos. How does that make you feel?
It means that the government does not care about our well-being. Crushing and confiscating our properties is not the way to show that they care about us. It is not that they can give soft loans to these riders who they have displaced or provide them with tricycles or vehicles as alternatives. It is unfair. The government needs to have us in their plans. We also contribute to the development of the country. That is how it is done everywhere. I don’t know why the Lagos State Government is treating us like this. They cannot turn Lagos into Paris in a day. They should create an alternative; that is what we are saying. You cannot collect what these people are using to fend for themselves and leave them with nothing. They cannot remain idle without anything.
So, what should the government do with the seized okada?
They should not even confiscate okada in the first place. It is counter-productive. I don’t support the riding of okada on the highways, but there should be a compromise. These okada riders are Nigerians, too, and they should be catered for.
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