Topic: Lagos Govt Issues 21-Day Ultimatum To Commercial Motorcycle Riders

The Lagos State Government has issued a 21-day ultimatum to
commercial motorcycle riders popularly known as ‘Okada’ to
stay away from restricted areas across the state.
This development was announced at the state secretariat, Alausa,
Ikeja, during a meeting with okada unions on Thursday, June
25, 2015.
According to Punch , the Secretary to the State Government,
SSG, Tunji Bello, who chaired the meeting, said the government
decided to give the riders 21-day ultimatum for the unions to
sensitise their members to vacate the restricted routes before
enforcement would begin.
He said, “We have held a meeting with the okadaunions on
what should be done. We had a meeting with security agencies
before now on the resurgence of okada riders on the
highways.
“They said they thought that the government had relaxed the
law; there is no relaxation. We have decided to give them
three weeks for enlightenment because we are not doing anything
new; what we are doing is to re-enforce the law.”
He observed that there has been a reduction in accidents since
2012 when the law was enacted, adding that the enforcement
was relaxed during the last elections so that political parties
would not capitalise on the enforcement to score cheap political
points.
He said, “We are not going back to that era again. For three
weeks, they will educate their members on the need to leave the
road. We need to save members of the public and the only way
to do that is to restrict their movement and enforce our traffic
law.
“We relaxed enforcement during the general elections because we
didn’t want crisis and violence. We needed to avoid crisis at
that time so that political parties would not capitalise on it. The
enforcement will be in full force after three weeks. This is a
law already in place and it has to be obeyed.”
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation, Oluseyi
Coker, reinstated that the law has not been suspended hence, a
strict adherence is expected.
He said, “We are doing this so that when we start enforcement,
they will not say government did not caution them. The violation
is much and we want the unions to educate their members.
“The Lagos State Government will do it right. We assure the
residents that there will be normalcy on the road.”