The Lagos State Government is working on a number of options to engage genuine commercial motorcycle operators, recently thrown out of jobs as a result of the implementation of the new traffic law, in meaningful ventures.
The Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, dropped the hint in Lagos on Wednesday, stressing that the move was meant to give only the registered operators a new lease of life.
Many of the okada riders, as the commercial motorcycle operators are called, have had to abandon the business, as the new law prohibits them from plying major roads and bridges in the state. According to the new traffic law, only those with 200cc engine capacity can operate in the permitted areas.
Some aggrieved operators have been protesting against the new policy and a few people sympathetic to their cause have urged the state government to rescind its decision in view of the multitude that will be affected.
But Opeifa, who spoke at the 11th Business Forum of the Lagos State University’s MBA Heritage held on Lagos Island on Wednesday, said that there was no going back on the decision.
He said, “We are resolute about the Road Traffic Law; there is no going back on it. But we are going to re-certify the okada operators resident in Lagos.
“We are going to start a registration process, and in the process, if we discover those who have skills, we will send them to the skill acquisition centres established by the state government to hone these skills.”
Opeifa, who spoke on the theme, ‘Effect of Transportation on Nigeria’s Economy,’ stressed that okada could not be regarded as a means of transportation, as nobody wished to bequeath it as an inheritance to their children.
The commissioner, therefore, said the state government would re-register the operators with a view to providing the genuine ones adversely affected by the policy other job opportunities.
“Some of them could be absorbed into the LAGBUS as conductors and drivers. We also have agriculture, where some of them can also be useful. Apart from our farms in Lagos, we have bought landed property in Ogun State and Abuja, and we are going to buy more in Benue for agriculture. So, the options are there for them,” he said.
According to him, the state government plans to assist some of the okada riders with the acquisition of skills to make them employable or to become self-employed.
Opeifa also said some of them would be assisted to own bakeries after undertaking the needed training.
But the Managing Director, Megavons West Africa Limited, Dr. Rotimi Oladele, expressed the view that the okada business could be reorganised, and urged the state government to re-brand it as a community transport system.
Although Oladele, who was a keynote speaker at the forum, commended the state government for its efforts in transforming Lagos, he said there was still a need for a truly masses-oriented means of transport, which the okada business represented.
“Let us re-brand them as community transport system, license them and restrict them to their domiciliary local government areas,” he said.
Opeifa said there was a need for the development of multi-modal transportation system for the economy to grow.
“The groundnut pyramids were moved from the North down to Lagos by the railway; likewise, cocoa and some other farm produce. The system worked then, and all that seems to have died now,” he said.
Opeifa advised that the review of the Constitution currently going on should whittle down some powers of the government at the centre, so that states and local governments could develop the modes of transportation that suited them.
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ReplyDeleteFashola before u go on with yur new job opportunities for the okada, pls provide more vehicles on the road for the masses because, many people are falling victims of kidnapers due to this transportation of a thing. Also, just take a walk in the morning time and evening and see how Lagostians' struggles and stranded at the bus stop and how to get a bus that we take them to their various destination. You cannot be on your seat at Alausa there and be blowing grammar those BRT is not enough on the road. I don't believe in government promises, they are full of deceit just because they needed something from the public they will promise heaven and earth and at the end of it nothing for you and if i may ask where are the buses Jonathan promised the whole Nigerians' as a result of these fuel subsidy? I beg i didn't trust any government, your idea may be good but i prefer action than verbal also, why not use those big big space for flowers planting on the middle of the road for okadas' although i don't enter okada but i just feel for these people in this hardship time if someone who is working is still complaining then think of these people, you people should do something fast or provide more small small buses for them for hire purchase so that there will be enough vehicles for the masses because you need to see how people are suffering and get home late in the night as a result of transport.
ReplyDeletewe dey talk of work here for lagos, imagine sombodi dey talk say work dey maduguri, work dey ogun, person wey get family and landed prpati for lagos, wey be say nah okada him dey tek finance the whole thing with im family, she na dat persin go come go dey do one work wey dem never even by the land wey dem go build the work put, infact this goverment don dey try since, but im just tek this one spoil the whole thing. AC for that mater, mek them try comot all the big big dog wey dem put for there domot, and the kind security wey dem get, nah dat time dem go no say hell dey....abeg give me indomie joooo..........
ReplyDeleteOpeifa is stupid for making such substance-lacking statements. The govt got it wrong bicos inadequate planning and lack of vision on the part of the affected.It could have been re-branded and better organised and managed. There was no or inadequate plans to accomodate and absorb the affected riders and their family in the state. No plans to cater for millions of lagosians that rely on this mode of transportation on daily basis. Rather Opeifa is here talking about farmlands in Maduiguri ans Abuja. What was their plan on relocating the affected families and their school kids? Thumb down for Fashola on this.
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