For a couple of days now, living in Lagos has become a sort of
hell to some people. No thanks to the ban on commercial motorcyclists
otherwise known as Okada from plying some roads in the state.
The enforcement of the ban took a new dimension early this week
when the okada operators took to the streets to protest indiscriminate
arrest of their members and subsequent seizure of their motorcycles, and
the process, destroyed public facilities including BRT buses.
This,
it was learnt, angered the state government warranting a heavy
clampdown on the defaulters by enforcing agents. As a result of this,
okada riders across the state suspended their operations. The situation
is compounded by the ‘perceived’ scarcity of petroleum products.
'Perceived' because it is believed that the scarcity was created by
greedy marketers who hoard the products only to sell at odd hours.
All
these have made life miserable for Lagosians. At every bus stop in
Lagos state, commuters are seen stranded while some were left with no
option than to take a long trek to their destinations.
Some of the
commuters who spoke to our reporter said they lacked appropriate words
to described the hardship they are going through and called on the state
government to immediately address the situation.
Even car owners
were not spared. The ban has witnessed an increase in number of vehicles
on the roads as those who rarely used their cars for fear of being held
up in traffic and miss business engagements had no option now than to
use their cars and spend hours in traffic.
Those who commented on
this issue were of the view that the government should have put some
measures in place before full implementation of the new laws to cushion
the effects on the people.
For Mr Christopher, a journalist with
one of the national dailies in Lagos, the ban has made his work more
difficult, particularly in meeting up deadline.
“Yesterday, I
spent over an hour at a bus stop in the morning and over two hours in
the traffic. The same thing happened in the evening. It was a terrible
experience that I wouldn’t want my enemy to have.”
Most of the
people who shared their ordeals maintain that ban on okada was not bad
in itself but stressed that everything was wrong about the
implementation. They accused police and other law enforcement agents of
extorting money from okada riders even from those plying approved
routes.
They suggested that for the law to be effective,
government should provide alternative means of transportation, opens new
routes and put existing roads to proper shape. They also called for
close monitoring of activities of enforcement agents to check their
excesses.
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