Photo credit: Punch Newspaper
There was a case of two people having a face-off. One of them described the other as an okada!
Well, I leave the meaning of that to your vivid imagination.
Talking on the okada and tricycle ban in some parts of Lagos state and the government saying it never gave anyone a licence to do okada business. I just felt we should ask some basic questions.
Must the government give one a permit to use one’s legs? Let me break that down, when you have to go somewhere and you either don’t have the money or there are no vehicles, what does one resort to?
The okada business was encouraged by the fact that the government didn’t provide the common people with adequate means of transportation.
How many hours does it take to drive from Apapa to Lagos Island and back? Meanwhile, there used to be a ferry service from the Marina, opposite the old Leventis Stores to Apapa. The trip normally took less than thirty minutes. I believe it was started by the Jakande administration. I don’t think it exists anymore.
If the roads were motorable and other means of transportation had been developed, the okada would definitely have little business to do.
The tricycle is common in some Asian countries. How come it can be managed there and not in Nigeria?
Coming back to the issue of license, can the government say it is not collecting taxes and even levies from the operators?
Do they not have uniforms and identification cards? Who gave them?
I’m aware that the okada riders are a force to reckon with when any politician wants to campaign. The okada riders can see ‘their lives outside’ now.
But above all, is the government doing its best to satisfy the yearnings and aspirations of the greater number of the people?
I just thought the Chinese were thinking of Lagos when they said, ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’.
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