‘Okada’ Dying by Installment as Kano Joins Clampdown

The Kano state government has joined other states to ban the use of motor-bikes as means of commercial transportation, following repeated terror attacks on security operatives, business establishments, telecom infrastructures and lately,  Alhaji Ado Bayero, Emir of Kano,its highly revered religious/traditional ruler  by unknown assailants on motor-bikes.

The ban which took immediate effect Wednesday was announced by Alhaji Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, state deputy governor in a statewide radio and television broadcast.

Other sources also stated that Umar Ganduje, had held prior meeting with officials of the commercial bike riders union in Kano on Tuesday, leading to yesterday’s ban. Commercial bike operation is popularly called ‘Okada’ in the south, but in the largely Muslim-Hausa north; they are referred to as ‘Achaba.’

The ban by Kano makes it one of several states mainly in the South and Abuja that have banned the use of motor bikes as means of commercial transportation.

In Lagos where the governor, Babatunde Fashola introduced restrictive measures aimed at curbing their excesses, commuters are still grabbling with their limited operations.

The Lagos restriction also affects corporate dispatch riders who are told to buy specified motor-bikes with minimum 200cc capacity to effectively operate in the state.

In Port Harcourt, Rivers state, they are completely off the roads. They were accused by Governor Rotimi Amaechi of being involved in robbery operations and members of kidnapping gangs operating in the oil producing Niger Delta state. Same as Akwa ibom State.

The economic downturn in oil rich Nigeria has led to several company shutdowns and lay-offs. The affected persons simply made themselves useful buying mostly cheap-Chinese-built bikes and without any formal training hit the roads to ferry passengers.

Their popularity is compounded by the fact they could easily wriggle their way through traffic despite the high-risk factor leading to several fatal accidents. But governments across the country have lately become exacerbated by the operators’ ill-manners on the roads and their involvements with crime.