Profiting from illegality: Lagos govt watches as local councils, touts exploit proscribed cyclists

IN Lagos, local government chairmen and ticket touts rake in tens of millions of naira in road or transport taxes collected from proscribed commercial motorcyclists, known as Okada riders, and tricyclists, otherwise called Keke Marwas.

In January 2020, the Lagos State government banned operations of Okada and Keke Marwas in six local governments (LGs)and nine local council development areas (LCDAs) of the state.

Commissioner for Information and Strategy Gbenga Omotosho said enforcement of the ban would start from February 1, 2020, in line with Lagos State Transport Sector Reform Law 2018, warning the cyclists not to ply 10 major highways as well as 40 bridges and flyovers across the state.

The proscribed areas were: Apapa LGA, Apapa Iganmu LCDA, Lagos Mainland LGA, Yaba LCDA, Surulere LGA, Itire-Ikate LCDA, and Coker-Aguda LCDA.

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Others were: Ikeja LGA, Onigbongbo LCDA, Ojodu LCDA, Eti-Osa LGA, Ikoyi-Obalende LCDA, Iru-Victoria Island LCDA, Lagos Island LGA and Lagos Island East LCDA.

Since then, there has not been any invalidation or repeal of the traffic law, which was passed by the House of Assembly in 2018, but the rules have been observed in the breach as local governments and ticket touts are exploiting the situation to make money.

Today, Okada riders and Keke Marwas ply all these restricted local governments and LCDAs as local governments and ticket touts issue tickets to them in exchange for cash, thereby making a lot of money in the process while the cyclists break the state traffic laws.

Evidence of traffic violation

In spite of ban on tricycles in Ikeja Local Government by the state government, the local government has a specialised ticket for tricycles, which is valid for only one day. The sum of N150 is written on the ticket, though tricyclists told the reporter that they often paid more.

Chairman of Ikeja Local Government Area Mojeed Alabi Balogun confirmed to the reporter that his local government collects N200 from tricycle operators each day, and not N150 as written on the ticket.

He also said transport revenue collection was being handeld by a contractor.

In Onigbongo LCDA, also in Ikeja, a company known as Goodwill Destiny Ventures collects transport revenue from tricycles, which were earlier banned in the area by the state government. Phone calls to Chairman of the LCDA Babatunde Oke to explain the rationale behind that were ignored, and text messages to his official phone number were not replied.

“I am surprised that these two local governments housing Alausa (state headquarters) and government ministries disobey Lagos traffic law without any word from the government. Was that pronouncement meant for a certain group of people?” A senior resident of Lagos Charles Akinjide asked.

Well, it was not meant for a certain group of people as all the restricted local governments and LCDAs visited by the reporter broke these laws without compunction.

In Ikeja and Onigbongbo, ticket touts or agberos issue the same type of ticket to tricylists and motorcyclists, collecting between N2,200- N3,000 from them.

Touts, who are mostly members of the National Road Transport Workers ( NURTW), issue tickets of N100 face value but collect 20 times that amount from tricyclists and motorcyclists, the reporter found.

In Coker/ Aguda LCDA, the NURTW issues tickets of N200 face value to motorcyclists but collects N600 to N700 from them each day. One ticket is for N100 and it is issued by Abiday Ande Ventures, the contractor collecting transport/ road taxes on behalf of Onigbongbo LCDA.

The N20 ticket is from the Motorcycle Operators’ Association of Lagos State (MOALS).

On the other hand, tricycles are issued three tickets: One from the LCDA, one from the NURTW and another from Tricycle Owners Association of Nigeria (TOAN), which is under the NURTW. This is despite that commercial motorcycles and tricycles are prohibited in the local council area.

Calls to Chairman of the LCDA Akinyemi-Obe Omobolanle were also ignored. He also did not reply to three WhatsApp messages sent to him, even though he read them.

This is also the case in Lagos Island East LCDA, made up of CMS and other areas in high-brow Lagos Island.

In the area, the local council also issues a ticket valued at N200 to tricycles despite state ban on them in the area.

Each tricyclist pays as much as N2,200 in the LCDA per day.

The ICIR found that motorcyclists, who plied everywhere in the local council, paid as much as N900 each day.

They are also issued with two tickets of N100 face value. One of the two is the regular NURTW ticket spoken about earlier. Hence, the state government’s traffic pronouncement does not hold water in the area.

READ MORE HERE: https://www.icirnigeria.org/profiting-from-illegality-lagos-govt-watches-as-local-councils-touts-exploit-proscribed-cyclists/