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“Okada”: An Importance Fast Losing By Mohammed Abba Sadiq
They have different names; “Okada”, “Acaba”, “Going” etc. all referring to one of the fastest means of transportation for people in Nigerian the cities today: the commercial motorcycles. In the last 15 to 30 years, the use of motorcycles for commercial transportation was rare or non existing. The advent of it due to some obvious reasons as the expansion of the cities culminating in high population and growth in business and commercial activities. It suddenly receives people’s attention, not only for those who could not own one or other means but also for those have it, in order to be fast.
In many cities in Nigerian today, people prefer to use commercial motorcycles for their short distanced business than even the usual taxis or their personal cars. Some states capitals don’t even have the services of taxis and buses at the moment, thereby rely on “Okada”. Where these are available, people still go for the “going” to keep going even in traffic hold ups. Those in Lagos, Kano, Onitsha and infact most of our commercial nerve centers can attest to that. Once the green traffic light is on, “Acaba” first moves before others.
The important role played by this popular means of transportation is fast losing. Too many factors come to inter play in making it a sort of a “mobile coffin”. The high rate of accidents involving commercial motorcycles in the cities today calls for attention. What are the factors responsible”, what is to be done? Who are responsible? There are many questions than answers, but which ever way, we can not continue like that. The proliferation of commercial motorcycles business could be attributed positively to many reasons.
Government through the National poverty Eradication programme has been providing motorcycles to the teeming unemployed youth to be self sufficient. Politicians also give out to redeem their campaign promises or to attract support. People also buy these motorcycles for daily or weekly returns. Motorcycles are being given out for N300 to N500 per day fetching N9000-N15,000 a month. It is indeed a lucrative small scale business you may say. All these factors mean well to the society if property utilized. Government, politicians and those who buy it for business do not give them out to be recklessly used and kill people. They are meant to serve people, to make people self reliant and to provide safe and fast means of short distance transportation.
What is obtainable today is the reverse. Young men and in some cases, under aged youth ride these motorcycles in top speeds and without obeying road signs or considering other road users, causing accidents day in day out; and of course the victims may not only be the rider but also the helpless passenger they are carrying. We are not saying that all commercial motorcycle riders are bad but, we are trying to caution those who make things disturbing to the society to desist. The eagerness to make “balance” as they call the daily returns never pays positively. Some have the gut of making the target by 12 noon and the remaining day’s work could be theirs, It is dangerous.
A situation where a rider would take 2 to 3 people at a time for a space of one person could not be easily described but imagined. In such a situation, anything fatal could occur. Some even move with 2-3 Jeri-cans of petroleum products; and to make things worst, they rarely go slowly. When ever there’s a little space, “top speed” to differentiate them from the non-commercial motorcyclists. In some cities like Maiduguri, one needs not to be told when an “Acaba” man is getting married. The noise that would be made with reckless display of motorcycles in high speed makes one to pray for their safes disembark. In this part of the country, some people hire the services of this “going” to take their children to schools; but if you see a situation just like a drama where 4-5 children would be on a motorcycle with the rider and you know to go gently is not in their character, would even make one to stop his child schooling. The problems are endless. All these are some of the reasons why we have high rate of negligence induced accidents involving commercial motorcyclists; thereby making them lose their importance in the society.
To proffer solution, the federal Road safety commission is no doubt doing its best but the problem is that, these young people don’t ride recklessly where these officials are present. We can go back to the use of helmets, it has be en the tradition in Nigeria before-No helmet, No riding motorcycle and still it is so in some countries. It is a very fundamental safety instrument when accident occurs. Public enlightenment should be intensified on the dangers of reckless motorcycle riding. The public has the right to be safe, so can ask the rider to be gentle or disembark and get another one.
For anybody that is going into the business, a license should be given and in doing that, the appropriate age that one needs to attain must be considered before being authorized in order to check the problem of underage children riding the “going”. The vehicle inspection officers (V10s) should also inspect the road worthiness of these motorcycles, because some don’t even have trafficator, hence use their hands to show where they are heading to, which is very dangerous particularly in the night. The society has had enough wounds, fractures and dead as a result of some preventable accidents involving commercial motorcycles largely due to negligence and recklessness; your importance is fast losing.
Mohammed Abba Sadiq Dept of Mass Communication University of Maiduguri P.M.B. 1069, Maiduguri.
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