Okada ban: Operators spit fire in Anambra

Moved by text messages to many residents in Anambra State that the state Governor, Chief Willie
Obiano, has concluded arrangements to ban commercial motorcycles in major towns of Awka, Onitsha and Nnewi, the leadership of Motorcycle Transport Union of Nigeria (MTUN), has warned against any official attempt to force its members out of business.
National Vice President of MTUN, Chief John Onedibe, who summoned an emergency meeting of the union executive over the issue in Awka, told journalists yesterday that any attempt by the state government to ban commercial motorcycles, otherwise known as Okada, would not only induce labour crisis, but would also inflict pains on many families and the economy of the state.
Onedibe reasoned that sending more than 10,000 Okada riders in Anambra out of job would increase crime and inflict hardship on the dependants of Okada riders.
“If government wants to ban commercial motorcyclists for security reasons as we heard, what about those, who use police and army uniforms to rob? Has government disbanded the police and the army as organisations? Armed robbers and kidnappers use Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) to commit crimes, but government has not stopped the use of those vehicles, even when some of them use tinted glasses. Is it because Okada operators are mainly the downtrodden in Nigerian society, who have no other option than to do Okada business? We need to be told whether crime waves have abated in those states where Okada has been banned. Certainly not,” Onedibe said.
He noted that crime wave in Anambra had abated without banning Okada because of Governor Obiano’s ingenuity in security control, stressing that Okada ban would rather have a negative effect.
“We wonder why Okada people, who constitute the poorest segment of our society and yet very large in population, are being tackled all the time. We have our families to take care of.”
There are even graduates among Okada riders, who took to the business as their last resort. Tell me what these graduates will do if Okada is banned and there is no alternative job for them. Are you not giving them license to commit crime? We have records of our operators. They are checked and monitored to make sure that criminals do not infiltrate. We may not be 100 percent correct in checking them, like in any other organisation, but we are very meticulous in doing that.
“Every Okada rider pays N50 to the state government and N20 to the local government councils where they operate every month. And that is through contractors, who we know inflate these returns. We will like to have a direct dealing with the government, so that they will be able to tell us what they want from us. Government should tell us what they want from us,” the Okada boss said.
Speaking in the same vein, the state Chairman of the union, Chief Jude Udegbe, recalled that the former governor, Mr. Peter Obi, was persuaded to ban Okada but could not do it because of the security implication of such ban.