₦airaland Forum

Residents of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, have bemoaned the state government’s decision to enforce the law banning the commercial use of motorcycle (popularly called ‘okada’) along state and federal roads across the state.

The law, recently passed by the state House of Assembly, took effect last Monday. It prescribes two months jail term or N10,000 fine for first offenders - and four months jail term for second offenders.

The state government, which sent the bill to the House, said it wanted to use it to curb evils associated with the use of commercial motorcycles in the state.

There had been cases of robbery and other crimes reportedly perpetrated by men riding ‘okada’ in the state. The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) had also warned that most of the road accidents recorded in the country was caused by motorcyclists’ recklessness on the road.

As at yesterday, scores of motorcyclists were arrested and convicted by a special mobile court detailed by the state government for the enforcement of the law.

Though the state promised to try and find alternative jobs for the motorcyclists before enforcing the law, residents believed it had not done enough.

The ‘okada’ labour was a means of livelihood to quite a munber of men. Many artisans forced out of job by epileptic power supply in the country found solace in ‘okada’.

Saheed Folaranmi, secretary of the Okada Riders’ Union, the Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association of Nigeria (ACOMORAN) in Oyo State, said the ban does not go down well with his association.

Mr. Folaranmi said the government should have consulted his group on ways to resolve the issues associated with the business.

“Which one do we know as the state and federal government roads in the town? The state government has only used its power against us. They should know we have dependants too and we have helped in reducing the effect of unemployment foisted on us in the country. Soon, we will make our views known on the issue in a non-violent way,” he declared.

Mr. Folaranmi, who insisted that the ban will not solve the crimes the government is associating with ‘okada’, said the ACOMORAN had forwarded a letter to the state House of Assembly on the need to involve the association in its treatment of the bill.

Unfulfilled expectations

What may have represented the government’s efforts in cushioning the effect of the ban was the 500 cabs it sold to some residents of Ibadan recently on installment. But, besides the widespread complaints of exploitation by the supposed beneficiaries, the number of supplied vehicles is deemed too few to serve a city like Ibadan. Some of the new cab owners said they could not ply the city’s outlying districts where demand for the motorcyclists is high.

Checks by NEXT in the ancient city on Tuesday suggested that the ban does not enjoy the kind of popularity the government expects.

Some residents of Ibadan are of the view that the government could have found better ways of addressing the problems purportedly necessitating the ban first, before the hammer.

Aina Badejo, a school teacher, said the ban on commercial motorcyclists will even impact on the school system. The easiest means of transport for a lot of people, including teachers, is ‘okada’,” he said. “Some teachers also ride these after school hours to make ends meet. The ban cannot work.”


http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/National/5538495-146/lamentation_as_oyo_enforces_law_against.csp

harakiri:
Education has nothing to do with this.Osama bin laden is well educated.His second in command is a respected medical practitioner.Most of their recruits in European countries are graduates and mostly engineers who are well versed in chemistry,physics and mathematics so what the hell are you talking about?

Islam is a sham!

Period!

but some of them are good, is it that, they are not faithful Muslims?

@ Poster, why did you deceive people with your topic? You are not a sincere man. Where are the pictures? Abeg, comot for road make I pass!.

How wicked can man be. Cutting ones head open?

ud4u:
What is the evidence that this man is a terrorist, afterall farouk was found with evidence, so there has to be an evidence.

I guess their evidence is that, his name is on the wanted FBI terrorist list. I do not see him as a threat, anyway.

This duo have become 5 and 6 in Lagos. Lagos is now for AC for ever, except there is any internal rangling.

Beaf:
Mutallab got through easy with his manliness bomb, didn't he? So catching a terrorist before he boarded is a plus for us.

Well said, but in Nigeria, something will happen first, before we learn lessons. Even with the lessons, with time, we will return to status quo.

shotuns:
naijaaaa, where are heading to in this country , we have prayed and prayed, now its time for action. Our leaders are the cause of the nation's troubles now.

When will Baba God deal with these people? Their own is too much!.

THE AMAKA:
[color=#ff00cc]OMG!!! KLM?!?!?! NOT MY FAVORITE AIRLINE.
he better not try it! 
seriously what is wrong with these people? i'm now terrified of air travel because you have lunatics all over the place!!! Eritrean arse better get the f*** outta the coutry.[/color]

How cheap are those legs, that they give way even without being asked to? . Joking!

henry101:
Me love ya signature wellishly.

Do not worry. GOD will soon visit you.

This the right person https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-345464.0.html

Check the site above.

What is wrong with terrorists and Nigeria? What is their problem?

Police Arrest Suspected Terrorist At Abuja Airport
•Probe Al-Jazeera Report On Extra-judicial Killings
By Maxwell Oditta and Abel Orukpe, Lagos


Barely two months after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian was arrested by U.S. authorities for attempting to blow up a Northwest Airlines Flight 253 flying from Amsterdam, Netherlands to Detroit, Michigan, with 289 passengers on December 25, 2009, the Police at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, has arrested a 36-year-old suspected terrorist Ahmed Ibrahim Muhammad from Eritrea.
A highly dependable source in the Abuja airport told our correspondent that the suspect had been on the watch list of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for years.

Muhammad, the source added, is based in Sweden and also carries a Swedish international passport.
The 36-year-old suspect, Saturday Independent gathered, was to travel from Abuja airport on Thursday aboard the controversial KLM airlines to Amsterdam, in the Netherlands before he was arrested.

Investigation by our correspondent further showed that when the police in Abuja airport got wind that Muhammad will board a KLM airline to Amsterdam, the airport police immediately mobilised and positioned detectives in and around the airport to track the suspected terrorist down before he committed any havoc.
Muhammad, the source, said was arrested immediately and that because of his dangerous nature, he was escorted to the police headquarters in Abuja by heavily armed policemen to forestall any attempt to escape.

Meanwhile, police authorities say they are investigating the claim by Al-Jazeera, a cable news network based in Doha, Qatar, that unnamed security agents in Nigeria were involved in extrajudicial killings against members of the extreme Islamist group known as Boko Haram, which unleashed mayhem in Bauchi, Borno, and Kano states last July, resulting in the death of 700 people.

According to the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Femi Ajayi, a chief superintendent of police, the authorities are worried at the likely negative effect of the footage on the image of both the police and the country.

“We are deeply concerned that the broadcast came at a time the Force Headquarters has set up a human rights unit to ensure that all policemen and women observe the dignity of the human person and basic human rights as an article of faith.

“Even though the Boko Haram crisis erupted a few hours after Ogbonna Onovo was appointed the acting inspector general of police, he still directed all officers involved in quelling the ferocious Boko Haram uprising against the government and people of Nigeria to protect the wives, children and other weak members of the fanatical sect, as well as male fighters caught in action.


http://independentngonline.com/DailyIndependent/Article.aspx?id=9414

nulldev:
A virtual Gulder for this guy! You will think this is not the same Nigeria we are talking about. A country were corruption IS the rule and not the exception. People de come here de talk 'but, rule of law'
.
Fashola is one of the few good things that has come out of the jamboree we call democracy in Nigeria.

I will not hide my feelings here. This call is rubbish. The best is to call for rapid development of Nigeria (especially where these oil is coming from), and the benefit will be too enormous. This call is tribalistic, and will not go down well for us all. Soon, Kainji Dam Federal Capital Territory too will come up from another group, Lake Chad Federal Capital Territory will spring up, River Niger/Benue Federal Capital Territory will not want to be left out. All these will not bring development, if we still have all these coconut heads in government. Tribalism, Bad leadership and corruption are the problems we have. That is all.

In as much as I will not and never buy this write, about our amiable gov., can EFCC do their jobs faster, so that these perpetrators are brought to book, and these reporters are shamed? As for the poster, I think he has no hands in this. Perhaps, he just wanted to sample opinion, but got more than he bargained.

tayo_ast:
exactly wat shd be done.

If not, these politicians will just turn a blind eye 2 d situation of things in these sectors

Have they not already? Today, the The Federal legislators voted down the issues relating to review of the 1999 constitution. Is that a sign of good thing to come? .

Wonders will never end in Nigeria. More health issues coming from Nigeria;

Ya'Ardua in Saudi Arabia,

Dimeji Bankole's wife delivered baby in Ghana,

IBB's wife went to California USA,

now Ogbulafor in India for checkup.

Fellow Nigerians, now you can see how these "SHADDOW
POLITICAL CRIMINALS" are waisting our resources, and leaving us to rotten.
They want to live for ever, but God always cut them short.

Ogbulafor ill in Saudi Arabia, flown to India for treatment
By Henry Omunu

Indications emerged yesterday that the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Vincent Ogbulafor is ill and receiving medical attention in India.

Sources in the party said Ogbulafor fell ill in Saudi Arabia, after a failed attempt by him and two other members of the national working committee of the PDP to see ailing President Umaru Yar’adua.

Ogbulafor, it was gathered, thereafter made a detour to India to see his doctors in a hospital where he has allegedly been an out-patient for the past few years because of his diabetic condition and eye problem.

The PDP national chairman is said to have delayed his medical trip to India because of the political impasse in the country caused by the prolonged absence of President Yar’adua from Nigeria.

When contacted, an aide to the national chairman denied knowledge of Ogbulafor’s whereabouts, saying he was not aware of his boss visit to India for medical attention.

Signals about Ogbulafor’s medical condition emerged last Wednesday when the PDP national working committee hosted the leadership of the National Assembly, led by Deputy President of the Senate Ike Ekwremadu after the lawmakers passed a resolution elevating former Vice-President Goodluck Jonathan to acting president pending the return of President Yar’adua.

At the event, after speaking ex-tempore, Ogbulafor said that he had a prepared speech but rather than read it, he invited the PDP national secretary, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje, to do so on his behalf.

Whenever the PDP national chairman attempts to read written speeches at party meetings, he blunders through the text and his aides on many occasions have had to come to his aid by reading to him parts of the speech that he had misread or omitted outright.



http://www.peoplesdaily-online.com/index.php/news/national-news/16-national-news/9526-ogbulafor-ill-in-saudi-arabia-flown-to-india-for-treatment-

Make una leave my Fashola alone. He needs to start gathering some cash for 2011 elections. Who no want re-election?

With Buhari, Fashola has failed already.

The story itself or even the report, is so complicated. Many meanings can be derived from it.

Oboma1:
Life is full of planning and being realistic, but when the temptation comes, and knowing man for his insatiable nature, many will crash into it. As a poster earlier said, you can withstand this because you are comfortable. How many Nigerians, can boast of the same position you are today. Maybe, it is too high, how many can boast of 2 square meals a day, in Nigeria today?

It is really rare in our society today, to see anyone turn down such offer. May GOD help us in this nation .

As for the Councillor, I really commend her, and I hope it will continue.

In deed, you are a one in a million. Keep the good work going. Perhaps, this nation might change through your kind of breed!.

@ Poster, you are good at heart, and may GOD give you the strength to go further with this. GOD bless you.