The use of motorcycle locally called 'Okada' is an integral and important part of Lagos life and hustle. The economic capital of West Africa is faced with few problems, and as with many developing megacities around the world, fast and effective transport is a big issue.

With a lot of people moving from one point to another, transportation is a huge business in Lagos. Despite the presence of the common yellow danfos, the state-owned Lag bus, and startups like Uber and taxify, motorcycles still remain core at the centre of transportation in Lagos.

Transportation via motorcycle is fast (at least from the Nigerian perspective), as they face lesser chance of total standstill during heavy traffic. They can also get to certain places cars would have a tough time getting to due to the poor road network. Even private car owners sometimes park their cars depending on the situation of things to use motorcycles facilitate their movement.

Visiting Lagos for the first time, or as a regular Lagos resident, these are the 10 most common types of motorcyclist in Lagos.

1. The swift one.

This one is a superman on the road. He runs with recklessness like he has a spare life at home. He is not afraid to overtake any vehicle not paying attention to traffic rules, and expertly knows how to dodge potholes or is not scared of them.

He usually puts on eyeglasses to help him cope with the opposing wind and dust forgetting that you are behind him. You feel tired and used up if he carries you over a very long distance.

While on a trip, he is already thinking about his next trip, hence his unnecessary speed. 
His swiftness is often triggered by the sight of a lot of passengers waiting for taxi or motorcycle at bus stops
He is also called last traffic bender.

2. The sluggish one.

Most people patronise motorcycles in Nigeria because of their speed and ability to manoeuvre their way through traffic congestion.

This motorcyclist is however not aware of this fact. He obeys almost all traffic rules and most importantly the traffic speed rule. He is just too slow for the typical Lagosian or his young passenger who is most time in a rush to get to his destination.

The passenger is usually undecided on how to tell him to increase his speed. When his passenger summons courage and tell him to speed up, he reminds them of the fact that speed kills. He may buttress his fact with a true or false story of a recent accident involving an overspending motorcyclist.

Most of the time if you probe more you'll realise he has just started the trade, or you would have seen, he is an elderly man carefully hustling to make ends meet.

3. The popular offender.

Under normal circumstance, a commercial motorcycle in Nigeria should have helmets for himself and his only passenger. But things in this part of life are a little distorted. A typical motorcyclist will carry two passengers with no protective helmet whatsoever.

The one in this category not only break this law, he sometimes drive against traffic, don't have one or two necessary permits, over-speed and may be involved in minor accident. However, the good thing is that his passengers are covered. He has paid his illegal dues on that route and are therefore good friends to all major traffic officials on their way. He is therefore un-arrestable. He has his territory, outside that territory, he is vulnerable.

4. The unfortunate one.

This one has refused to pay his dues on the road, and is therefore a target of the traffic officials.

The traffic officials wait for him to break just one rule and they pounce on their ideal offender.

If you are the passenger when he's caught, that maybe the end of the trip.

At first, he will try to argue with the traffic officials.

They (the officials) will tell him his offence, and then tell him to follow them to follow their office, or they remove his key.

On getting to know his offence, he becomes apologetic. He becomes free only if he pays the official fine or grease the palm of the officers. But for some grave offences or with strict and no nonsense officials, he will have to get to their station or office for proper punishment.

If the point of stop is in a place where you can't easily get another motorcycle, then your precious time is wasted. The funny thing is that he may decide to collect money for the uncompleted trip.

5. The fresher or ignorant one.

Usually this one has just started the trade and hasn't taken his time to fully know the routes and bus stops within his trade zone.

So when an intending passenger approaches him and price is agreed, he ends the negotiation with something like, "do you know the specific place"?. Some passengers ignore this important pointer and board the bike.

The easiest possible scenario is when the passenger fully knows his destination and directs him all through. Sometimes I feel like deducting some part of his money as I participated in his learning process on the job.

The journey however, becomes complex and daunting when the passenger doesn't know the actual place he is going. Then you begin to see both the motorcyclist and passenger(s) ask random people about direction to their destination.

Another twist to this type of journey is that the motorcyclist may change his asking price after seeing that the price previously agreed is way lower compared to the service he has rendered. This is one of the most common cause of argument between the passengers and motorcyclists in Lagos and Ogun states.

6. The talking one.

This one is just a talkertive who is vast on a lot of issues and won't mind sharing his thoughts with his passenger(s).

Most times, the discussion starts from transportation issues and digresses to political, family, financial, sports and relationship matters. The good or sad part (depending on your view of the conversion) is that the discussion ends when the passenger gets to his or her destination.

7. The ultimate searcher.

In most states in Nigeria, and Lagos to be precise the law is that motorcycles should only carry one passengers. But the economic situation in the land won't allow that for motorcyclist.

Except for some highbrow areas where the motorcyclist will bill high, and carry only one passenger, most motorcyclists will want to carry two passengers. If the first passenger is lucky, the motorcyclist gets his second passenger at close proximity, then he is saved the stress of incessant stops. If the reverse is the case, this motorcyclist will stop at the sight of any group of people to scout for his missing passenger. This ultimately slows down the speed of the journey.

8. The tipsy one.

Despite the wide campaign against drinking and driving in Nigeria, it is an open secret that a good number of transporters still flaunt that rule.

It is very difficult to notice the tipsy motorcyclist at a glance. But after boarding the bike and conversing with him, you begin to smell alcohol. Most times they don't get high but you can always sense instability in the way they drive and talk. They are also called the risky ones.

9. The choleric.

This motorcyclist is that hot tampered one whose mouth is his biggest asset.

One of the most popular and age long believe in Lagos is that 'the shouting side is usually the winning side'. This man knows this so well.

At any slight provocation, he flares up and is difficult to calm down. He rains abuses on other road users (car drivers, fellow motorcyclists and pedestrians) who pass their bounds by trying to hit him or are too slow for his liken.

Even when he's the wrong one, it takes wisdom, display of affluence and legal force to calm him down to admitting his fault. Very often his passengers beg him to concentrate on his driving, and apologize to other road users on his behalf.

10. The corporate one.

This is the best and almost perfect one. He is everyone's choice. He obeys almost all the traffic rules, is patient despite the annoying state of the Lagos traffic, has his complete papers and licences. He talks when he is supposed to. He dresses decently and generally his character is in alignment with his outlook.

The sad thing is that he is very difficult to find.

Source: https://medium.com/@bioemmanuel94/ten-types-of-motorcyclists-you-will-find-in-lagos-9b87183783f2

So true

Issoka