Go Okada

I have a love-hate relationship with commercial motorbikes (henceforth referred to as Okadas). When they’re around, I hate and dread them and wish that they’d be banished from my life forever. But when they’re not in sight, I think of them with longing, recalling all the times we had together and the ease they brought to my life. Yup, that’s me and Lagos Okadas!

Last month, when Governor Raji Fashola banned Okadas from plying certain routes in Lagos, I was furious and every opportunity I got, I voiced my opinions with clinched fists and bared teeth. I had good reason too and cannot adequately express my pleasure on the untimely demise of the decree.

If I lived and worked in the parts of Lagos where one does not need Okadas I might not have been bothered by his decree. I might simply have pulled out a magazine to read each time the topic came…but I don’t and so I was really angered by it.

I thought the decree was short-sighted and whimsical. I’m not an economic strategist or anything of the sort, but in my opinion, a government that wants to ban Okadas must in the same breath that it’s doing so, provide an alternative. It should say something like “You can no longer take bikes along so-and-so routes, but here are some buses, trams e.t.c. for your use”. But there was no such thing and the obvious implication was that people would be stranded across town and be forced to make long journeys on foot. I work in Lekki Phase 1 and in the first week after the decree, I spent minutes that felt like hours stranded there.  Cabs were the only option, but then that brings me to my second point.

The ban caused traffic to surge, especially on the Island. As a layman, I had anticipated this and could not for the life of me understand how Governor Fashola and his cronies could not have envisaged that if they asked people to stop taking Okadas and start taking cabs, buses and their private cars, there would be more vehicles on our already congested roads. It’s pure logic, isn’t it?! Well, what’s that saying about common sense?

Then there was the small matter of the young men who were to be put out of business. Lagos has enough criminals as it is. I wonder, ‘Didn’t it cross the mind of the government that in putting young men out of work, some of them might turn to crime to put food on their tables or even just for the thrill of getting back at society for snatching control of their fates out of their hands?’

Now don’t get me wrong oh! I’m not saying that Okadas are a blissful part of our lives. On the contrary, statistics and daily experiences indicate that they are a menace to our society. I’m not oblivious of the number of deaths and other atrocities that are a direct result of their existence. I know all these, but I also know that if you must chop off a man’s leg, it’s best to provide him with crutches or a stick; you must show him how to cope without the limb that he has come to rely on.

I understand that we would be better off without the Dare-Devil Okadamen who weave through traffic like cats with more lives than one without a moment’s concern for their mortals passengers. But I also understand that cities are not built in a day, with the wave of a finger.

The well meant but poorly thought out decree has flopped (I’ve been getting bikes out of Lekki) It’s my sincere hope that the people concerned would go back to the drawing board in Alausa and come up with logical strategies and directives that will hold fast and transcend us to the future we desire.

Eko o ni baje oh!!!