Many trailer loads of motorcycles, popularly called Okada, and tricycles, known as Keke Napep, were spotted being moved out of Lagos at the week end.
This is coming on the heels of the ban imposed by the Lagos State government on operations of okada and Keke Napep in six local governments and 9 local council development areas of the state.
The ban, according to the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Gbenga Omotosho, takes effect from today, February 1, 2020.
This morning, many riders who hail from the Northern part of the country were seen leaving Lagos with their motorcycles and tricycles loaded in trailers.
According to reports, no fewer than seven trailers loaded with motorcycles were spotted along the Lagos–Ibadan expressway leaving Lagos.
It was learnt that some of the riders left Lagos to join trailers heading to the North from Ogere in Ogun State.
At Ogere, at least five trailers of Okada and Keke were counted, while some of the riders were seen attaching bike on other trailers and tankers.
Some of them who spoke with newsmen on the way, said they were going to their respective states in the North because of the ban on motorcycles and tricycles by the Lagos state government.
We gathered that following the planned enforcement of the ban beginning from Saturday morning, many roads and highways in the state are free from motorcycles and tricycles.
The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) has described as “pretty good”, the compliance of commercial motorcycle (Okada) and Tricycle (Keke) operators with the ban and restriction.
The LASTMA’s General Manager, Mr. Olajide Oduyoye, made
this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on
Saturday.
Oduyoye said there would not be fight or argument with any
operator who willingly complies with the law. He said that officers of the
authority are on ground for the enforcement of the extant law on Okada and Keke
operations from today (February 1).
“The compliance is pretty good for the first day. We hope to see that a lot will comply more and more. Operators must keep doing what the law says.
“There is no problem; once there is compliance, there is no need for any enforcement. There is no need for any fight or any incident on the road. “It is just for the people to just comply and that is it,” Oduyoye said.
The LASTMA boss said the enforcement was to control the unrestrained behaviour and recklessness of the operators in the state which contributed to the traffic bottlenecks in the state. The traffic manager explained that the operations of tricycle and motorcycle riders had also been creating traffic bottlenecks and chaos in the state and accused them of regularly riding against traffic.
“The difficulty we always have is this Keke and Okada
riding against traffic and causing a lot of traffic chaos. “When a minor
accident happens with Keke scratching a vehicle and there is an argument, it
disrupts the traffic flow.
“That made our jobs a lot more difficult. So,
now that they are going to be off the major highways, our work will be much
easier.
“The motorists creating traffic chaos will not have Keke or Okada to blame again “LASTMA officers are up to the task. We are going to do our job as diligently as we are supposed to,” Oduyoye said.
According to him, we will operate where we are supposed to operate and work to make sure that traffic is flowing as much as possible. “We expect that since so many junctions and corners will be free of Keke and Okada parks and loitering; when enforcement comes up, there will be better traffic flow in Lagos State from today,” Oduyoye said.
If the operators have stayed within the ambit of the law and operate within the law, he said, there won’t be problem as a lot of people still rely on them.
“We can see their apprehension and likely pain, but I blame the operators for misbehaving in such a way that their operations become security and safety issues. “No responsible government will sit back and allow this to grow and to grow out of hand; which is exactly what is happening,” he added.
The Lagos State government on Monday announced that it would commence enforcement of the extant Transport Sector Reform Law 2018 which banned the operation of Motorcycles (Okada) and Tricycles (Keke) in some Local Government Areas (LGAs) and Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) with effect from February 1.
They include: Apapa LGA, Apapa Iganmu LCDA, Lagos Mainland LG, Yaba LCDA, Surulere LGA, Itire-Ikate and Coker-Aguda LCDAs and Ikeja LGA, Others are Onigbongbo and Ojodu LCDAs, Eti-Osa LGA, Ikoyi-Obalende and Iru/Victoria Island LCDAs, Lagos Island LGA and Lagos Island East LCDA. The state government also listed highways, bridges and roads where the law also banned motorcycles and tricycles from operating in the state.
– NAN