In recent times, there has been a lot of comment about the status of Bike Taxis in Nigeria. These taxis, locally known as 'Okada', have become a major feature of public transport in rural and urban Nigeria. Dating to the strife-ridden days of military rule and the severe economic deprivations of that era, Okadas replaced dilapidated taxis and the 'last cars' driven by the decimated middle class of the 1990s.
Along with high level youth unemployment and a near-total breakdown of law and order and open season in public roads regulation, the Okadas became an established mode of quick and affordable transport. It is its flexibility - being able to do the last mile with ease as it wove through the notorious traffic jam of most Nigerian cities and towns - that has endeared it to the hordes of urban and rural dwellers.
Of course, the dark cloud in the Okada silver lining has been a myriad of undeniable negative factors.
First, it has been a major source of road traffic accidents. The essential point lies with the skills of the Bikers. The received wisdom is that it takes less than an hour to make an Okada Biker. This appalling level of training and an absence of proper certification, as well as uncertain quality of bikes and associated equipment has brought the lens of government regulation on the operations of Okada in most parts of Nigeria.
Second, Okada have been linked to the spate of violent crimes ranging from abductions and kidnappings, rapes, murders, armed robbery of banks and private homes. It is thought that criminal gangs use agents on bikes to carry out surveillance on target locations and also to move into an area in pairs while avoiding any attention from law enforcement agencies. It is also believed that criminals make their escape on Okada. In view of this, some neighborhoods prohibit Okada from operating in their areas. It is this direct link between violent crime and Okada that has forced governments to focus on them as part of their strategy to tackle crime and social cohesion.
Third, Okada phenomenon has been blamed for the paucity of young people taking up apprencticeships and training places in the trades and professions. The get-rich-quick mentality through which young people are able to earn cash daily by driving a taxi bike for an enterpreneur-owner provides instant gratification that a tenured training place does not offer. Governments believe that it is essential to curb the Okada-Driver career option as it is not sustainable. The high risk of injury and death and the subsequent impact on dependents without a breadwinner requires is a pointer to the need to regulate and reduce the role of Okada in the transport supply chain.
Several states have also banned Okada and others are in the process of doing so. This is a step in the right direction. The Okada phenomenon is one whose star has dimmed. It is time that governments at all levels take the bull by the horns and tackle the need for an integrated public transport system. A strategy of abandoning public transport to an unmanageable horde of motorcyclists whose training is suspect and their motives more doubtful is an unwise one.
It is time to tame the menace of Okada and consign them to the dust heap or at least to the margins of a proper integrated public transport system fit for a modernising society as Africa is aiming to become.
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