Commercial motorcyclists beg Obiano to lift ban on ‘okada’ operations

Commercial motorcyclists in Anambra, otherwise called ‘Okada’ operators, have appealed to Gov. Willie Obiano to lift the restriction imposed on their operations in Awka and Onitsha metropolis since July 2018.

A cross-section of the operators made the appeal in separate interviews with our reported in Onitsha on Tuesday.

They said that the ban had brought untold economic hardship to them and their families, having lost their only meaningful source of livelihood due to the ban.

Recall that the state government banned okada operations on July 1, 2018 as part of the measures to check the crime wave in the two cities and their environs.

Chief Sunday Ofoke, the state Secretary, Motorcycle Transport Union of Nigeriain, told NAN that the union was willing to partner with the government on security, should it lift the ban.

Ofoke said: “We are still begging the state government to have mercy on us and reverse the directive because many of us are dying of hunger.

“If there is anything they want us to do in terms of security, we are ready to do it. They should just call us back.

“But if you look at it, after the ban, we still record crime, so they should just consider us and call us back.”

Another okada operator, Mr Arthur Nwankwo, who reportedly dropped the job for ‘agbero’ after the ban, regretted that government had yet to fulfill its promise to give out mini-buses to replace okada.

Nwankwo said that he resorted to loading passengers for commercial tricycle (keke), following his inability to buy a bus to replace his motorcycle.

He said, “I had yet to recoup the money I spent to buy the Okada before government announced the ban.

“Since then, I have tried to get a bus for transport business, to no avail.”

Efforts made to get the reaction of Mr Clement Chukwuka, the Managing Director of the state Small Business Agency, regarding the pleas by the okada operators, were unsuccessful.