Billions in taxes, wages to be lost in Lagos ‘okada’ ban

BY CHARLES ABUEDE & ONOME AMUGE

It may sound alarming that billions of naira may be lost effective June 1, 2022, as the Lagos State government begins the gradual clearance of commercial motorcyclists, popularly known as okada riders, from Nigeria’s commercial capital city.

The amount generated as revenues from fees and collections from an estimated 37,000 commercial motorcycle riders, according to figures from the Motorcycle Operators Association of Lagos State (MOALS), accounts for a good percentage of the state’s total internally generated revenues on a monthly basis.

National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data analysed by Business A.M. indicate that Lagos State generated N127 billion in the first quarter of 2021 and N267.23 billion after the first six months of 2021. The data further showed that the state recorded about N45 billion (N44.5 billion) in monthly internally generated revenue in 2021 which translates to about N540 billion in annual IGR.

The Lagos State government, following security threats to life and property believed to be posed by the motorcycle or okada riders, has now dropped the hammer with a ban on the operations of the commercial motorcyclists, in the state metropolis effective June 1, 2022. The decision followed the gruesome murder of Sunday Imoh, a sound engineer in the Lekki area of the state by okada operators over an altercation involving N100.

Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Lagos State governor, who issued the directive during a meeting with the state’s commissioner of police, area commanders and divisional police officers (DPOs) at the State House at Alausa, Ikeja, said:

“After a critical review of our restriction on okada activities in the first six Local Government Areas where we restricted them on February 1, 2020, we have seen that the menace has not abated.

“We are now directing a total ban on Okada activities across the highways and bridges within these six local governments — Ikeja, Surulere, Etiosa, Lagos Island, Mainland and Apapa — and their Local Council Development Areas, effective from June 1, 2022.”

Efforts to put a red flag to the operations of this segment of the transport business and the model by the state government can be traced back to the late 2000s and early 2010s when the state government, under the Babatunde Fashola administration, banned okada operations, stating that they were abetting robbery and other unscrupulous acts in the state.

This was followed by the government’s imposition of protective helmets on commuters and riders, respectively. This became a standard in the state but was abandoned when several conspiracy theories emanated from some quarters, giving credence to the rumours making the rounds that some of the bikers were involved in fetish acts.

The above event brought about the need to register all commercial motorcycles in the state and obtain an operating licence from the government through their local government councils. It seemed to calm frayed nerves and appeared to lay the matter to rest as more individuals filed for registration and consequently pulled a bumper harvest and led to a surge in the state’s revenues from this segment in the years that followed.

In 2019 there was the emergence and birth of some registered and tax-paying ride-sharing firms that took advantage of the teeming population in the state and the need to bridge the existing gap between demands for motorbikes to commute a longer distance in the face of the notoriously, energy draining long hours spent on a very frustrating Lagos traffic. It gave rise to businesses like Gokada, Max.ng, ORide, among others, who came into a market sprouting rigorously, to change the transport landscape in Lagos and Nigeria; and also create more employment for citizens.

Unfortunately, this industry was short-lived following allegations that members of the state’s task forces feasted on the riders by allegedly extorting some of them, notwithstanding the fact that their companies paid taxes to the government. An impasse between the task forces and the companies that lingered, led to an enactment by the state government which put a dead end to the then growing and promising industry in Lagos and Nigeria.

In February 2020, the Lagos State government distinctly barred the operation of bike riders in some selected local government areas of the state owing to allegations that they deliberately created and worsened traffic congestions, perpetration of criminal activities by the commercial motorcyclists and being accident prone as there was loss of human lives due to the non-compliance with traffic rules and regulations in the state.

The decision was greeted with different reactions by stakeholders, with some arguing that the average Lagosian who depends and fends for the family from the earnings in the business would be left with nothing as they are made to return to the street, engage in crimes or engage in all manners of social vices, including touting activities. In the midst of it came lockdown imposition as a result of the outbreak of Covid-19.

While the recent ban is yet to get into gear since it takes effect from June 1, the announcement has been greeted with mixed reactions from different quarters. In particular, there are some who have described the action as an overreaction and a scratch on the surface of reality, as it leaves out pressing issues of priority in the wake of events that seem to be without serious threats.

John Adeyeye, a security guard at a company located in Apapa, lamented that the ban would subject him to the gruelling condition of walking a long distance from his home to his workplace. He added that most people are going to lose productive time on the road trekking because buses don’t operate in some of the places where motorcyclists have been banned from operating.

Speaking in a similar vein, Abubakar Yakubu, a 300-level student at the Lagos State University, opined that the ban would create a bigger disaster rather than resolve traffic challenges, considering the significant role the motorcycles play in easing transportation and providing income for passengers and commercial motorcyclists, respectively.

Farinu Bakare, a motorcyclist and father of three children, lamented that the ban would have an adverse effect on both himself and his family being that the route he operates his motorcycle is among the areas affected by the ban, rendering him jobless until he is able to seek another source of income.

Bakare who is also a registered motorcyclist under the Motorcycle Operators Association of Lagos State, Ikeja Chapter, described the ban as unjust, noting that he and many other motorcyclists had been operating in compliance with traffic regulations.

On his part, Williams Adeyemi, a secondary school teacher, considers the ban a welcome development, adding that the decision was long overdue as it had gotten to a state where the motorcycle operators had constituted themselves a nuisance to the environment through their disregard for traffic regulations, thereby endangering the lives of many youths.

Ndubuisi Eke, a computer dealer at the Computer Village in Ikeja, said many robbery incidents across the state were perpetrated by commercial motorcyclists. Eke opined that a ban on their activities would drastically reduce the crime rate across the city.

Meanwhile, Gbenga Omotosho, commissioner for information & Strategy, Lagos State, in his justification of the ban, noted that 1712 accidents have been recorded in Lagos in the first quarter of the year out of which 767 or about 45 percent of the accidents involved motorcycles. This, according to him, shows that motorcycles have in many cases put a lot of lives at risk.

The deadline, he explained, is to enable the okada operators to find time to seek alternative jobs, work routines and ease traffic gridlocks on the roads

“Lagos is aspiring towards being a megacity and the goal of the government is to have a Lagos without motorcycles because there is no megacity in the world that you go to and find this kind of mode of transportation,” he added.

Omotosho further explained that the state government is committed to providing alternative means of transportation, including mini buses, water jetties and the soon-to-be-completed railway system, to ease traffic.