Lagos police to arrest Okada riders plying restricted roads

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Oladapo Badmos, on Tuesday said the command would ensure strict enforcement of all laws made by the State Government.

Badmos said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos. He warned commercial motorcycle riders, popularly called Okada riders, not to flout the restriction order by the state government not to ply some express roads. 

“We are carrying out the order to apprehend motorcycles on every restricted route,’’ she said. Badmos said that the recent ban placed on Agility Street along Mile 12 Market on Ikorodu road was being strictly enforced. 

However, NAN correspondents who visited some roads along Apapa-Oshodi, Ikorodu road-Mile 12 and Mile 2 reports that the riders operated carelessly on the restricted routes. They told NAN that they made more money on the highway than plying the hinterlands.

A commercial motorcycle along Ikorodu road, Mr Peter Chukwu, said that the police had never relented in arresting operators found culpable. 

Another rider on Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, Mr Alfred Balogun, said that he usually took the risk whenever he got irresistible offers from passengers. “Sometimes you can be at your park looking for N100 passenger and somebody may offer more than N1,000 to catch an appointment mostly if there is go slow,’’ he said. 

Malam Sani Haruna, a rider on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, said that the riders were filling a need on the highway. “Sometimes the traffic on this road gets so bad that only Okada is the sure means of transportation here. “About three months ago there were multiple truck accidents due to bad road, we were the only ones who could move people from Apapa through Mile 2 to Oshodi,’’ he said. He appealed to the state government to reconsider the ban on some routes. 

A rider in Oshodi, Mr Austine Onwudiwe, said he operated on the highway during peak periods to support his business. “I am a graduate, no job but I have a small store in the market where I am managing with my brother but I drive Okada only during rush hours. 

“I pray before I come out every day, I don’t believe police can catch me even if I drive on the expressway since my aim is to support my business,’’ he said. (NAN).