OKADA MENANCE
Rhoda Nomhwange
Motorcycle business popularly called Okada is the major and easiest means of transportation in both towns and villages. However, it is also a platform for lawlessness and criminality in the voice of Tachin Wergba a Public Affairs Commentator. Overtime, the questions of safety have been asked regarding the operation of the Okada. Who licenses and certifies members and who controls their activities?
Kabiru Abdulahi an Okada rider in Makurdi town told THE TRANSMITTER he is not educated and do not understand road traffic signs. However, when he joined his brother who is a businessman he needed a source of livelihood, so the brother bought a motorcycle for him which he started riding without any form of training or knowledge of routes. Abdullahi was honest that he could not communicate in English Language when he started the business. So, there was no room to bargain as he could collect whatever he was given at the end of a journey.
Abdullahi has caused four accidents with passengers sustaining different degrees of injuries. The last accident kept him out of the business for 8months. This happened at the Federal Medical Centre junction, Wadata where he knocked down a child returning from school. The child victim had fracture on the leg and this traumatized him. The question he asked himself was, “what if it was my child?” He decided to go back to the business for his family to feed. Abdullahi said all these happened because Okada is a trade that everyone plies provided he has a motorcycle, even without prior riding skills.
There are many Abdullahis gambling with the lives of passengers on daily basis. In some instances, the accidents get severe with deaths recorded. Every other day, someone is injured, maimed or killed, no thanks to the Okada riders that most people look up to for easy access for movement.
Another Okada Rrider, Ameh Emmanuel told THE TRANSMITTER that he is a graduate of the Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi. He started riding at age 20, and has continued through and after school. To Ameh, the accidents on the road are mostly caused by riders who are not trained and other road users who are careless. To some, he said, the rush to meet targets and financial obligations make them go reckless which causes accidents.
Wankar David who is also an Okada rider said he has never experienced any accidents himself but that lack of caution on the side of the riders and sometimes the carelessness of people result to chaos. Wankar feels there is need for orientation and reorientation for Okada riders on what to do and what not to do.
Moses Gwaza said the activities of the Okada operators are supposed to be guided by the Benue Motorcycle Association (BEMOA). But many times, the leaders of this union are interested in collecting “dues” and issuance of riding permit without knowing or testing the ability of the intending member. He said it is regrettable that the union cannot account for a “vivid and accurate data of its members because, they are interested in monetary gains and not the safety and security of passengers.”
THE TRANSMITTER’S attempt to meet with the BEMOA chairman in Makurdi failed. The sad truth is that as easy as this means of transportation is it is also a platform for mishap and “criminality” to reecho the words of Tachin Wergba. It is for this reason that towns even in third world countries like Nigeria have banned the use of motorcyclists in major towns. The uncoordinated nature of the business is a thing of worry.
Philip Omachi is a civil servant in Benue State. He is still undergoing therapy occasioned by a fractured leg when his rider collided as a result of reckless riding. The story of a woman, her son and the Okada rider smashed around the popular NNPC Mega Filling station is still fresh, when the rider overtook wrongly and came head on with a heavy duty vehicle.
For any reason, a deliberate government policy must be put in place if this business must go on. As it stands it is the case of “things fall apart.” Donald Nweke said “most of the riders are drug addicts who continually keep the life of passengers and other road users at risk: they have no regard for road signs or speed limit.”
The union leaders must regulate the activities of the riders to minimize accidents rates and other criminality occasioned by or related to the Okada that many see as a consternation of lawless youths. The “bag eggs” should not be allowed to tarnish what is pleasurable and economically viable to others. So far in Nigeria, only a few state capitals like Makurdi, Lafia and Lokoja are yet to ban the use of motorcycles. Operators must think well before the ban comes eventually to avoid stories that touch.
