Worried by the menace posed by commercial motorcycles, a.k.a. Okada riders in Lagos State, Governor Babatunde Fashola is set to wield the big stick against recalcitrant riders who have defied all forms of measures taken by the government to make them comply with the law.

To this end, the governor has reconstituted the 32-member Lagos State Security Committee to urgently look into the menace posed by Okada riders in Lagos and submit its report in three weeks.
The governor lamented that between January this year and now, 346 robbery suspects were arrested on Okada, while 1,259 accidents involving Okada riders were reported in government public facilities. After reeling out the figures, Governor Fashola said he could no longer tolerate this, adding that the issue called for utmost concern.

“The last two months alone, from LASUTH to Ikeja, we had 179 cases of Okada accidents, within October and November alone. Out of that 179, 170 of the victims were passengers.

“At the Toll Gate emergency centre, we had 41 accidents reported there on Okada.

“All these reports are just for two months. In the combined reports from 20 government hospitals that we monitored over the last two months in October and November, we had 1,039 accident cases on Okada,” he revealed.

He explained further: “Now, with regards to crime, between January and now, 346 robbers were arrested on Okada. If you isolate that two months alone, October and November, it was 79 robbers on Okada. Those who got away in robbery cases on Okada were seven, three in October and four in November.

“If you look at traffic violations in October and November, we had 1,908 involving Okada in October and 1,003 in November, making a total of 2,911 for two months of traffic violations. Clearly, this is no longer acceptable and this is why I have called you back,” he told members of the committee.

Fashola explained that the first report the committee presented to him on the menace of Okada riders is now four years old and needed to be reviewed urgently.

“So, we are asking you to kindly let us have the benefit of your expertise and advice and knowledge on the way we can review some of the recommendations you made in 2007. It is clear to us now that Okada is used clearly for organised crime and we take the view that crime is a business, but it’s an illegal business and it threatens legal and lawful business, and our responsibility is to protect the legal and lawful business,” the governor declared.

Apparently reacting to the argument in some quarters that unemployment forced majority of the people into Okada business, Governor Fashola acknowledged this but quickly submitted that there is no excuse for crime. “There are lawful ones where people who ride Okada don’t have jobs, but that is not acceptable, it’s not an excuse. There is no excuse for crime. Any government that takes itself seriously must reduce crime to the barest minimum.”

“Every government worth its mandate must reduce crime to the barest minimum because it is the only way every member of the society would be protected. Without law and order, economic activity will not thrive. Investors will also leave,” he added.

“We have tried to accommodate and show understanding for the nature of the business by asking them to regulate, by prohibiting in accordance with the road traffic laws, their operations in certain highways at certain times, but clearly we have not received the reciprocal cooperation from them.

“We would like you to look at the entire scope of the impact of Okada business on security of lives and property in Lagos State; look at what other states have done in managing the problem; to see whether those methods in other states, like restrictions, prohibitions worked and what you will recommend to us to do in order to continue to protect lives and property,” Governor Fashola concluded.

The committee is headed by Mr. Waheed Olusegun, a retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Mr. John Ahmadu (retired DIG), Vice Chairman; Brigade Commander, Lagos, Naval Brigade, Air Force Brigade Commander, Commissioner of Police, Customs Area Comptroller in Lagos, Commandant, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA); Director, State Security Service, eight Police Area Commanders, chairmen of Epe and Ajeromi local governments and Lagos Island East Local Council Development Area.

Others are the Permanent Secretary of the Teachers Establishment Pensions Office (TEPO), the Chief Neighbourhood Watcher in the state, Commissioners for Transportation and Rural Development, Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA); Managing Directors of MTN, Globacom, Airtel, Zoom Communication and the Head of the Vehicle Inspection Unit (VIO). The secretary of the committee is the Director of Finance in the Office of the Commissioner for Sports, Mr. Bashir Braimah.

Source: http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2011/12/06/gov-fashola-fed-up-with-okada-riders-346-okada-robbers-arrested-in-11-months-1259-accidents-recorded-in-two-months/