Ease The Pains Of Commuters

editorial

Arguably, one of the most controversial aspects of the new Lagos Traffic Law is the restriction placed on commercial motorcycles and tricycles, popularly known as okada and Keke Marwa respectively, from plying 475 roads across the state, including the major highways.

Dispatch motorcycles used by companies to efficiently discharge their services while avoiding the usually chaotic traffic snarls in the metropolis are also affected.

According to Section 3, sub-section 1 of the amended edict, “No person shall ride, drive or propel a cart, wheel barrow, motorcycle or tricycle on any of the routes specified in Schedule II to this Law.” Schedule II lists the routes which these categories of vehicles are banned from plying, with stringent punishments for offenders.

The controversy is naturally exacerbated by the unsavoury experiences many residents have had to bear. While we agree that the responsibility of government is to maintain law and order for the good and orderliness of society, we hasten to tell government to always weigh the effects of its policies on the people for which it serves. A government’s policy is defeatist, self-serving and unpopular if it undeservedly brings punishment and hardship on the same people it was meant for.

This is the situation in all nooks and crannies of Lagos, where commuters are stranded for hours due to the restriction on Okada, which is undoubtedly the most popular mode of transport for many. The inadequacy of privately-owned and government-private administered vehicles, like LAGBUS, and BRT have made the experiences more harrowing for hapless citizens.

While it is commendable to ban okadas from plying the highways, same cannot be said of the inner roads included in the prohibited routes. Many of these routes are devoid of commuter buses. One would have expected a critical re-assessment in order to grant them access to some of the restricted artery roads to ease the pains of commuters. Even at this time, tricycles should be allowed to operate in other places apart from the highways,  where Okadas are banned.

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Governor Babatunde Fashola at a private function in the state recently said he wondered why Nigerians are embracing tricycles, which represented the age of poverty in India. He said even India has abandoned it and moved towards the manufacturing TATA buses. We need not remind him that bad leadership, economic mismanagement, corruption, stealing of public funds and impoverishment of the masses by the political class and their collaborators is responsible for that.

While we continue to bemoan our elite-inflicted misfortunes, we implore the state government to encourage genuine okada riders to form cooperative societies and facilitate loan grants for them to either buy tricycles or buses. This is encouraging a culture of business partnership where government makes the populace better citizens, earn tax revenues and spend less on enforcement.

Bearing in mind its increasingly rising population, an emerging mega city and thriving economy like Lagos should be expanding its various transport systems to meet its accompanying challenges. The state government should have painstakingly considered a transition plan that would gradually wean the people from the use of Okadas before promulgating the edict.

It must be stressed that governments in other states such as Cross River and Akwa Ibom where okada has been banned, provided luxury buses and tricycles for easy mobility of people.

Speaking on the Traffic Law, the state’s Commissioner for Justice and Attorney-General, Ade Ipaye, said: “What necessitated the law are concerns for safety of Lagosians, health of Lagosians, security of Lagosians on our roads”. However, his avowal seems to conflict with the reality. Rather, Lagosians who now trek many kilometres to their various destinations are likely to have health challenges, which ultimately dwindles productivity and by extension hurts the health of the economy.

The state government must immediately ease commuters’ pains by providing alternative means of transportation for the teeming population. Providing tricycle to ply some of the 475 roads okada has been banned from plying and as well as more BRT and LAGBUS will ease the pains.

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