Lagos and Okada: The Place of Enforcement in Governance
Just last week we got pleasant news that 29 Nigerian words and expressions have made it into the Oxford English dictionary in this year’s update. One of those words is okada. But at home the news about Okada wasn’t so pleasant. Many commuters had to walk long distances especially in the environs of Surulere, this was the case all day on Monday and Tuesday. The situation has significantly relaxed now. It turns out that the purported ban was a hoax, or according to conspiracy theorists, it was meant to feel the pulse of the public.
I had seen the excerpts of a video wherein the deputy governor of Lagos, Mr. Obafemi Hamzat, had mentioned that there would be need to do away with okadas in the state as the administration did not consider it a safe or comfortable means of transportation. I stand with his excellency on this. But Monday’s directive (if it was that) was too sudden. Nonetheless, we should have forgotten about these ‘metal horses’ by now if there had been strict and continuous enforcement of the Lagos State Road Traffic Law 2012.
The passage of the bill in 2012, during the Fashola administration, created state-wide furore. While there are other provisions in the law, the restriction of okadas on 475 routes was considered a major sin by the governor who was in his second term. The restriction was effective on major highways but not for long.
On the eve of the 2015 election, the Lagos State government dropped the ball for political expediency. Okada riders are legion in Lagos and they threatened to use their numbers against the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). It was their way of getting back at Fashola, who was not on the ballot but wanted his party man Ambode to succeed him. Ambode and the APC had a formidable opponent in Jimi Agbaje of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). He courted the Okada unions and even rode on the contraption for effect. Such is the inextricably interdependent world of politics and policy.
By early 2015, when political campaigns were in full swing, the law had begun to be observed in breach. Mobolaji Bank-Anthony way, a route I plied daily, witnessed a gradual return of the two-wheeled menace and they were not stopped. It would have taken a few gutsy riders to test the ground. After a few days without arrest, the news would have gone round, thus the army returned. It was the same all over the metropolis. That was how the rowdiness returned, as Ambode, who eventually won the election, did not see it fit to enforce the law. He had his own plans.
For a law that was principally meant to eliminate frequent road crashes, the law was quite successful. Kayode Opeifa, then-commissioner for transport noted that okada-related traffic accidents had reduced by 95%. Indeed the Orthopedic hospital, Igbobi, saw a sharp decline in Okada-related emergencies and admissions. Governor Fashola boasted of this feat many times. Mr. Opeifa also claimed that there was also a reduction in traffic violation by 32%. It is a notorious fact that the Okada are the most obtrusive and most unruly road users followed closely by their danfo [this word is now in the English dictionary, I say that with glee] colleagues. It is however puzzling that with such progress, the government did not insist on keeping the law, it let things slide.
Okada is not indispensable in Lagos, nay Nigeria. I often wonder how people got around before the deluge of okadas. One instance of okada’s dispensability is the campus of the University of Lagos where they are banned, yet students go about the campus without a complaint. Those who do not drive and cannot walk from one point to the other patiently wait for cabs. The campus is quite safe and sane. I do not want to imagine the madness of an okada-infested Unilag campus
It is true that Unilag shuttles are quite cheap, but that same model can be replicated all over the city if the local councils would do their jobs and not wait for agberos [we need this added too, dear Oxford] to give them their ‘cut’ of the forced daily takings from okadas, danfos, keke napeps and street traders. There is no thinking or planning going on in those councils.
Already, almost all the streets of the city are reachable through autorickshaws (keke napep). That is a better alternative. There are also the very small six- and seven-seater buses (colloquially called korope) that often go where the kekes go, so indeed there are already alternatives except that many Lagosians are used to being picked up and dropped off at their doorsteps.
In Europe and North America that we often look up to, you have to walk to the bus stop, or the subway if you’re not calling an uber or driving. There are no commercial motorcycles. Okada is not a healthy, safe or even cheap way to get around. Policymakers can also look at some of these advanced countries to see how inner-city transportation is done. There are streets, in some countries, where only bikes and prams can be seen. No cars at all. The prams can stop you at any point, even at your door. Unfortunately, our roads and other necessary infrastructure are poorly designed for such innovation to take place now, if ever.
The government also needs to know that the most successful and most enduring means of mass transit is the rail. The Moscow metro which has been in existence since 1935 moves 6.9 million passengers a day with annual rider number at over 2.5 billion. The London underground in existence since 1863 moves about 5 million passengers per day with annual ridership of about 1.4 billion. Ditto for New York City (5.6million daily riders), New Jersey transit rail to New York (306, 000 daily riders), Tokyo (8.7 million daily riders), Beijing (10.5 million daily riders) and even South Africa’s Gautrain (approximately 15 million annual riders).
It has taken us almost 10 years to build the so-called blue line. No one even knows if it would ever be finished! If we had a standard subway or metro connecting the hubs of Lagos with the adjoining cities of Abeokuta and Ibadan, one might make a guestimate of about 4–5million daily riders. That is perhaps the number of people on Lagos roads every single day. The 1500 BRT buses and Ambode’s 800 buses cannot solve the daily commuting problems of 4–5 million people.
While ferries would make a significant impact on the 39 water routes, the real solution is the tracks — okadas on the highways would be a forgotten affair in a matter of weeks. What with the direct and indirect employment opportunities that would be available. This government can give us a standard rail system crisscrossing the state in less than ten years. I believe the legal aspects have now been addressed. What is keeping us? The Gauteng train connecting Johannesburg, Pretoria, Ekurhuleni and O. R. Tambo International airport (weaving through a total of 80 km) took 5 years. It can be done, no excuses.
The government must enforce its laws, the Lagos Road Traffic Law 2012 also protects pedestrians using the zebra crossings and punishes drivers who don’t stop — the danfos never stop, some drivers do not even know its purpose while many of the crossings have faded and other areas do not have the markings — Oshodi, Mushin, Agege.
Beyond, restricting motorcycles, autorickshaws, wheelbarrows and the like, the law compels riders: to wear helmets, not to carry pregnant women, not to carry more than one passenger at a time, not to operate beyond the hours of 6 am and 8 pm, not to carry a child younger than 12, not to carry an adult with a baby, and not to carry heavy load. Wares are also not to be placed on walkways. It is proper to say the law has failed.
To the government, I say fix the roads. If we can’t get alternative modes of transportation. Put all roads in excellent condition and do the required work in ensuring proper maintenance, arrest those who destroy the roads for their selfish purposes and insist on drivers who are road- and traffic-literate. Achieving the much-desired mega city status requires solving big problems and keeping them solved.
