The last one-week has witnessed twists and turns following the outright ban on commercial motorcycles and tricycles on major highways, bridges and local government areas across the state. This new development however greeted with mixed reactions is already the stand of the Sanwo-Olu led administration in a bid to sanitise the state.
Commercial motorcycles have become a popular way to avoid congested Lagos roads in recent years. It has 
become a boom industry with a rise in the number of motorcycle-hailing startups like Max.ng, ORide and Gokada. Lagos is the third most stressful city in the world to live in, according to Zipjet, and statistics reveals that commuters in the city spend an average of 30 hours a week stuck in traffic. Hence, motorcycle-hailing startups have become attractive alternatives because bikes can easily cut through gridlock, unlike other vehicles.
Lagos state’s commissioner for information and strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, said the ban was needed becau
se of deaths, accidents and disorderliness caused by motorbike taxis, and commercial tricycles. He said the motorcycle-hailing startups have been discovered to be part of the problem they set out to solve as their riders are involved in accidents and breaking road rules. From 2016-2019, Lagos recorded a total of 10,000 road accidents involving motorcycles and tricycles, out of the 10,000, there have been 600 recorded deaths.
More recently, the Lagos Commissioner of Transport, Dr. Frederick Olaseinde categorically noted that motorcycles don’t have a place in the Lagos Masterplan and as such, their ban is total and final. There are over 800,000 motorcycle riders in the state. It raises the question of how these people will make a living.
Safety and security is very key in any sane society. However, do residents and communities see these negative sides and consider the ban on Okada a good deed from the government? How should people be made to ‘appreciate’ the new face of Lagos that is now cleaner, saner and void of the hurdles and bickering in the Lagos traffic?
Navigating around the state in the last one week has seen a lot of people trekking from one point to another, mostly as there are insufficient buses to transport them or no buses at all plying that route which used to be Okadas and Keke Napeps zones. While government should have made adequate arrangement and provide more befitting means of transportation for Lagosians before the outright ban, this would have reduced the hardship most commuters are currently facing.
The cost of transportation today is alarming; there has been an increase in bus fares, even the ride-hailing taxis are not left out. There are very long queues at bus stations even with the extra costs, we hope that the 65 new buses provided by the government and the opening of its waterways as means of transportation in the state can do justice to this situation.
However, the streets of Lagos have been agog with protests from bike riders and there have been reports of violent clashes between protesters and the authorities especially in areas with dense population of bikes. This is was the case in Ijora and Iyana-Ipaja areas of the state. While there are better ways to resolve this issue rather than taking to violent, it is necessary for the government to engage the affected in healthy conversations on a possible way forward.
More rivalry in a bid to sanitise the state of its security challenges leads nowhere. These conversations should include both affected regular bikers and bike-hailing startups, engaging the relevant stakeholders in the industry instead of resorting to violent protests.
We at Community Bell believe that sanitising the state and tackling security concerns is paramount. Hence it should not be jeopardised for any personal gains. However, it is important for the government to put necessary measures on ground to ameliorate the sufferings and hardships that is arising due to the ban.
