Commercial motorcyclists, popularly called okada, are to stop plying the routes in the city centre of Abuja from October 1, 2006.

They would however be allowed to operate in other areas of the Federal Capital Territory.

This was disclosed by the special assistant to the FCT minister on information and strategy, Hajiya Amina Sahilu, during a radio programme monitored over the weekend.

She said the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) had acquired buses that would ply routes in the city centre. The special assistant blamed the high rates of accidents on Abuja roads on the okada operators.

The new buses, which are red in colour, were seen moving round the city last Friday morning.

In a swift reaction, some okada riders said such an order would be resisted. Clement Effiong wondered what routes the FCTA wanted them to ply, adding that with the large number of their members, such directive would be snubbed.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200609060464.html

they are introducing new buses and highway lanes for buses only. El rufia also said they have ordered thousands of black cabs hmm interesting.

I think its a right step in the right direction. Their activities is only banned from the city center not an outright banned from their operations. However they can still operate in the satellite towns and so on.

This news has been making rounds amongst them (okada riders) sometime last week which resulted in fracas between them and policemen somewhere in Area 1 with tearsgas everywhere.

The buses are cool; only that people are sceptical about their fares for now. The tends to be large influx of people using the buses in the night.

_{I wonder about the fate of those govt. workers that have been distributed motorbikes by thier respective agencies.}

i dont support the ban on the popular okade in FCT at all. i wonder what route they are 2 ply if they are banned from city centre cos from my own view the bike are mainly in the city centre. Just imagine someone staying around Wuse II , Maitama , Asokoro where you dont get public buses aside OKada and Taxi drop. how do you want the poor ones there 2 survive. d Okada fare from those to some other part is as high as 150 Naira.

@loverboy
did u mean the abuja green cabs.guy dat one na for big boys. the minimum fare is 500 hundred naira. so how do u want people like me to get 2 work. probably will av 2 spend over 1200 daily of my salary on FCT cabs.
guy no way.

Au are we going to complete our parole

el rufi shold have a second tot ooo

U can easily trek from your neighbourhood to the main road and board a vehicle; atleast its part of exercise.

Of course we all know the importance of services okadas rendered but then their excesses has to be curtail from strategic areas to avoid them being over-run by vehicle. just some couple of weeks back one ignore the trafic light almost getting into my lane; u know.

that was risky!

Is this a ban on all motorcycle use?
Or is this the ban on commercial use of okada bikes?

Can someone please clarify this for me thanks

@ 2old 4dat

Its because you have a car

@ josboy4lif

They said Okada and not motorcycle or are they going to ban courier services that makes use of motorcycle

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! poor OKADAS, any way God dey.

What's the reason for this ban? Rich people don't use "Okada".

How would they differentiate between private motorcycle owners and commercial riders anyway?

na today when el rufai says such he does it,even people with cars still need okada's @ times cuz they know everyplace u might not know so u jst call them and they lead.but the ban no b am @ all

I support the ban 100%. Infact I have been looking forward to it since last year when El Rufai announced plans to do that once the buses are in place.

Maybe if one of u opposing the ban suffers from an Okada related accident, u'd understand. They are simply not safe, especially the commercial cyclists.

They'll be differentiated from non commercial ones as the private rider and passenger wear safety helmets.

Why can't the Okada riders be allowed to operate with safety helmets also?

Seun:

Why can't the Okada riders be allowed to operate with safety helmets also?

Seun, if you don't know, more than 90% of the okada riders are suicide-prone! It's just the plain truth. They throw caution to the winds and seem to be in a hurry to get to hell. Let me tell you something, my company (i keep its ID secret) has organised seminars for okada riders on several occasions for several years. This was done in conjunction with the local Okada riders association. On several occasions, free branded crash helmets were handed over to them but check them a few days after and you don't see them wearing the helmets. Ain't it strange? They prefer death to taking precautions. Go to most teaching hospitals and you see a lot of okada accident victims in their so-called okada wards. The way the guy ride their bikes makes one to wonder if they are sane. Just imagine an okada riding in front of your car at a certain speed and all of a sudden makes a u-turn to the other side of the road because a passenger had beckoned on him. I know that car drivers do same but the okada riders are more exposed than the driver find in a car.

I hope this ban was made with due considerations of the various class of people that live in Abuja and also the fact that buses do not ply all routes and they usually take longer time to get filled compared to a single passenger to an Okada that will take him/her to her destination (time is a factor here).
  Sometimes, passengers only have descriptions of where they are going to and don't know exactly where their destination is.Okada riders always know better and has been of help to alot of people.
 It would have been better if they (FCT) had establish a trial and see how effective buses would be before scrapping out Okadas. They ought to have the interest of the public first at all times. Besides, these  buses are not for the rich but for the public.

We really have to be considerate in our thoughts and action.Alot of this Okada riders stays in the outskirt of town with 80% of homes and houses destroyed.

How do you want them to make a living

Do you want them to move to areas like Kubwa that already has it own Okada riders.Like the yoruba proverb "cutting off the head is not the solution to headache"

They are banning motorcycles to guarantee profits for the new government-sanctioned bus operators. I always feel ashamed when I see fellow businessmen using the government to eliminate competition.

Seun:

They are banning motorcycles to guarantee profits for the new government-sanctioned bus operators. I always feel ashamed when I see fellow businessmen using the government to eliminate competition.

lol

Word! Seun[size=8pt][/size][color=#990000][/color]

Okada people are not wanted in FCT but interstingly they are needed. This is the Nigerian way---put the cart before the horse! It will ever fizzle out like Sharia. Poor Nigerians!

true talk,

We have all commuted before the Okada Craze. Okadas became popular late 90's.

We'll continue to commute without Okadas in the city center. It'll even encourage development in the Satellite towns, as there 'll be more movement in those towns until there is a bus system in place there.

Infact in my estate, we need more Okadas whithin the estate than in the city center. Its safer whithin the estate. Hopefully we'll have more now.

I am sick and tired of people seeing every government policy as being against the so called "poor masses".

Guys be Objective!

Guys,
I do understand where U all are coming from, but don't u think it is time we have a city we can boost of & that can compare with any modern city in the world? Pals let the Okada go, I hope we shall soon have the map of Abuja city available to everybody, so for those that can find their way, they can result to the map to locate their ways. Pls we need to move forward a bit, we should be thinking in the direction of tubes, tramps & other ways of modern transportations, not going back to the death traps called Okada. Rome, they say was not build in a day, so pls let us hail El Rufai for this action.
I know many Okada Riders may loose income in the beginning, but I guess if they relocate outside Abuja City, they can get back what they may loose in Abuja City.

They are banning motorcycles to guarantee profits for the new government-sanctioned bus operators. 

When govt introduced the abuja green cab, other commercial vehicles were still operating. Right now there are green taxis n buses operating with the govts' green cab simultaneously. Likewise okadas n tricycle (keke napep) which have been operating before now.

Introduction of the govt's commercial vehicles will only creat an environment for healthy competition on fares. this will witness a drop in the charges from both sides thereby giving the commuters the power to choose.

So its not a one-sided affair.

2old4that: your post is without meaning. How does the Okada ban "guarantee competition"?

It's a pity
co's a lot of
people are going
to loose their
jobs.
why should they ban it
(Okada) it's not fair.

unless the government
has a plan "B" for them.

I support that there should be a plan b for them.

Suggesting outskirt operation is not totally the best solution.

Up plan "B"
does anyone have suggestions

Even if there was a plan b, it is not right to ban someone's job. But there is no plan b, so this is a travesty.

Banning okada is a good idea but the problem here will be, what next?
this administration has been linked with a lot of banning. will it be right to say it is banning crazy?
ban on textile, ban on furniture ban on this, ban on that but what happens at the end of the day.
how many textile factories/companies do we have there in nigeria and how efficient and effective are they in production.
how many companies are into furniture and how many of our so called leaders are using locally manufactured textiles and furnitures? who is cheating who?
if okada is banned and a more conducive means of transportation put into place, nobody will have reason(s) toquestion the action(s) of the administration over that. but imagine a situation where a individual businessmen will sponsor the banning only to start with a low t-fair and will be inflating the price on daily bases and all will be to the detriment of the road users and in this case people will be forced to ask why wouldn't they leave okada which had been making life easier for us.
in my opinion, there is no need for the banning boom instead let the government encourage the local industries put the basic armenities into place so that they can compete favourably with their foreign counterparts and nigerians will have reasons to go for local goods which has same quality at a lower price.
no normal consumer will go for local goods which has lower quality and higher price hence the need for foriegn goods but the enterpreneuars in nigeria are all aware of this danger and would stop at nothing using their ungodly connections in abuja to ban the foriegn goods and thereby forcing the consumers against their wills.
it is high time nigeria will inculcate the consumers in their rule of law by allowing freedom of consumption without a hiden price tag.
provide alternative means of transportation in abuja with better services and allow the okada men to voluntarily disengage themslves but because the governement is not sure of their ability to do this hence they resort to forceful disengagement and thereby making way for the unholy increase in our high way roberies.
which way nigeria?

Na wa for this country oh!!!!!!

you i'll just wake up one morning
only to find out that your only
source of Livelihood has been
banned.

any way i pray
God will give them a
better job.

the ban is for our own good but i don't support it simply because only the poor masses would suffer the consequences and alot of people will be left jobless.

It is not for your own good, afterall you're not forced to board okada. It's for the sake of the new bus operators, and that is why I am disgusted. I wonder if we need to wake up one morning and ban politicians.