Ban on okada has reduced criminalities, accidents in Apapa - Freight forwarder

Segun Oladipupo

Two weeks after the ban on commercial motorcycle and tricycles on major roads in Lagos including Apapa and Tincan axis, insecurity in the port corridors was said to have abated.

Recall that the Lagos state government recently placed restriction on commercial motorcycle and tricycles on major roads in the city owing to incessant accidents and reported cases of insecurity.

Buttressing the ban, a former chairman, Apapa chapter of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), Dr. Fred Ajuzie said the ban was a welcome development saying the rate of crime and insecurity has drastically reduced as a result of the directive.

Ajuzie who spoke with journalists in his office on Thursday, added that while the commercial motorcycle riders held sway, there were incidents of robbery on agents and operators within the corridor.

He added that there were many cases of accidents recorded daily before the ban.

He narrated how a colleague’s driver was robbed of six million naira at the entrance of the office after making withdrawal at the bank in Apapa.

According to him, the robbers who also shot at the driver, came on bikes and made away with the money.

He further attributed the attack on the agent to the uncontrollable activities of the Okada riders.

He commended the Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, for the innovation and strategic planning to reduce accident and crime related stories perpetrated by the operators.

Ajuzie who is the Managing Director Pat-Fuze Nigeria Limited, said: “Okada is the means of movement within this locality because of the gridlock faced in Apapa, so people use Okada as a means of transportation which for me is not the best thing.

“The truth is a lot people have been injured, a lot people have been hospitalized as a result of Okada. So for me I support the ban of okada ,I support the ban on Keke because they use these bikes to rob people .

“The good side of the ban is better than the bad ones. Let us look at it from the other way round; If you get to the banks within Apapa with an Okada rider there is the tendency that the bike man might trace you with his bike if such a person has evil intention. But for now I don’t think such thing will happen as a result of the ban.

“A colleague of mine was shot in Apapa, six million was collected from him by some Okada riders. So is that what should be said about because they were taken off the highways by the state government?

“Okada should be abolished, there should be stringent measures to enforce and implement the ban mostly in Apapa and anyone caught should be sent to jail because it’s not good to the port system.

“We have outgrown Okada existence in the port community and it doesn’t hamper my business in anyway.

He called on the government to deploy other means of transportation to Apapa and further expedite actions to complete the ongoing road reconstruction within the Apapa-Oshodi expressway in Lagos.