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Tuesday, 02 December, 2008 03:49 am
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| Amaechi, Understanding The Relevance Of Okada Riders (?) |
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| Written by Odimegwu Onwumere | ||||||
| Saturday, 26 July 2008 | ||||||
     Rivers State residents were once thrown into shock when Governor Chibuike Amaechi made it open that Okada riding may soon be phased out; following a plan by the state government and private outfits to partner in a viable transport system that would make Okada operations unfashionable? Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi stated this early this year, at the state transport summit. Hear him: “I was ready to ban commercial motorcycles in Rivers State, even today, if we find viable alternatives to Okada.” The governor believed that the odds of the commercial cyclists outweigh the advantages. His word, “Because of the many deaths associated with motorcycles, robbery on bike, broken limbs and permanent disabilities….” When the statement was made, people at the summit, the participants, were abashed by the image okada as a means of transportation in Nigeria creates for the country in the eyes of the international community. To them, they saw the image Okada riding creates as an embarrassment as if Nigeria is so poor that it can’t provide clean transportation means for her citizens. They believed that before the coming of bikes, the country moved very well with taxis. While many in that summit saw the need why okada should be banned, many participants had different opinion; they did not hide their voices to say that the system provided job opportunities to scores of Nigerian citizens. And that making them jobless in one fell swoop would create some social problems. While this went on, observers noticed that many people abrogated that concept and asked that Okada riders should look elsewhere for livelihood when the time comes. In many quarters, some people say one wrong thing about Okada riders or another. And many Nigerians feel that the ban on Okada riding in Nigeria would be the honest thing that the government can do for its citizenry? They believed that the number of Okada riders as a form of public transport in Nigeria needs to be seriously reduced? They believed that Okadas are dangerous, a nuisance to other drivers, flaunt traffic laws, and that they were sure all Nigerians know people who have been seriously injured as a result of Okada? However, others asked that if Okada was going to be banned in Port Harcourt then was the commissioner for transport or the government providing any viable alternatives? To these people they saw the idea of banning okada in Rivers State without provision for jobs for the operators as, "action without thinking". While that raged on, many Nigerians saw the idea and characterized it as an idea that seems to have a hold on the vast majority of Nigerian leaders all to just put on a show. When the news was making the rounds in the Garden City, in May 26, this year, the commercial motorcyclists (okada) took to the streets of Port Harcourt, protesting government’s proposed ban of the cyclists on 35 major roads and some streets of the city. While this was experienced, scores of residents were caught unawares and they had to trek long distances to their places of businesses or abodes, like when the immediate ex-Governors before Amaechi introduced dusk to dawn curfew. Some of the residents were drenched, because it rained in the early morning in some parts of the city of that day of the protest. Okada officials meant it and they mobilized their members and planted them at strategic places to stop all commercial cycles from plying the streets and the major roads and not to carry people. The Okada officials were saying that the reasons the government gave for banning the Okadas were not valid because even in civilized societies there are still criminals and accident is a character of human existence. They said that the government did not consult with the union before going ahead to ban them plying the roads of Port Harcourt. They cited Calabar, (Cross River State), that the government of Rivers State was supposed to emulate how commercial cycling has been properly organized instead of banning them. They even said that they were ready to join hands with the government to organize the operation of Okadas in the city because they also generated revenue for the state. They regretted that if the government was to tow the line of banning them, that it was creating unnecessary unemployment and deliberately sending people to the labour market and also opening the way for more criminals to flood the state. They also admonished the government following its announcement a few weeks ago before the protest that it was constrained by the high rate of okada-related crimes and accidents in the state and environs, prompting the need to check the vices by fixing the time of their operations to between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. as an act of giving a dog a bad name. Just two days after the protest by the Okada riders took place, precisely on 29th May 2008, the governor Amaechi-led government paraded kidnappers arrested by the Rivers state Police Command at a stakeholder’s forum of the state in Government House. Among those that were paraded was a 70-year old man who allegedly connived with his son to abduct some children in the state. (He was not an Okada rider). This was after governor Rotimi Amaechi in his opening remark had condemned kidnapping, saying it makes nonsense of agitation by the region for attention. At hearing this, visibly, governor Amaechi was angry. He wondered why the criminality of abduction in the state and the link between the abducted children and problems of under-development in the Niger Delta. Hear the Governor: “Kidnapping is becoming an industry. Kidnapping is beyond the issue of Niger Delta struggle. They have bastardized the struggle with kidnappings. We are losing sympathy both at the local and international levels. Those doing it are doing it at the expense of others". Nigerians can’t forget in a hurry that the keynote address presented by Chairman, Committee on Transport Summit 2008, Mr. George Fubara Tolofari, said challenges in the transportation system includes surmounting the ineffective intra-marine transport services. He asserted that the absence of functional mega parks and jetties, the unplanned location of bus stops, the clogged waterways occasioned by abandoned wreckages, the deficient enforcement of road/marine rules and regulations were all the problems. Tolofari also said that the traffic situation in Port Harcourt had reached crisis dimensions and several many hours and lives are lost to traffic congestion on a daily basis. Did he say to Okada only? Hear him: “This has had adverse implications for economic development and industrial growth of the city and the state at large. There is the need to examine the existing network of roads in the state, the condition of other existing infrastructure in the transport sector”. Today, Nigerians could see the importance of the okada riders Governor Amaechi government have banned not to ply 35 roads and streets in the capital city of Rivers State. He has even expressed this by the reward of N7.5 million his government has given to the 4 gallant okada men who foiled the attempt of the minors’ kidnappers in the GRA axis of Port Harcourt on 17th July, 2008. The government had also given them Hiace bus and promised to foot the hospital bills of the okada man shot by the miscreants. And observers understood that when Rivers State government does something worthy of note or substantial they keep people informed. Until then please no more of this government banned okada. Is there no government commissioned pit toilet in mile one? Etc. Odimegwu Onwumere, is a poet and an author, the founder, Poet Against Child Abuse (PACA), Rivers State. +2348032552855. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  Quote this article on your site | Print | E-mail
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