Metropole Magazine: Okadas Return to City Centre

Despite the ban, commercial motorcyclists find their way back to the city centre, reports Malik Yila.

Abdullahi Auwal, 29, is a motorcycle (okada) operator who transports passengers to and from the AYA in Asokoro at least four times a day, defying the FCT’s order forbidding him and other motorcyclists from operating in the city centre.

Kayode Fanola of the Federal Road Safety Corps secretary, when he was the FCT sector commander, told Daily Trust newspaper that commercial motorcyclists are not welcome in town. “They are banned from the city itself. By this we refer to Wuse District, Maitama, Asokoro, Utako, Jabi up to Life Camp, even Gwarimpa.

“They are allowed only in the satellite towns such as Nyanya, Gwagalada, Bwari, Abaji, Kuje, Kubwa etc. Those are the places they are allowed to operate. The federal capital authority ordered that any bike that flouts the law should be seized. We don’t even expect to see them in the city. They are banned from operating in the city in daytime or at night,” he said.

The ban has been in existence since 2006 and was put in place by then FCT minister Nasir El-Rufai, but not even the current FCT minister, Bala Mohammed’s recent complaint about the renewed presence of okadas in central areas discourages Auwal and other okadas, who continue to ply his chosen route in the heart of Abuja.

“It is far more rewarding financially than operating in Masaka (an outskirt part of the FCT, where he lives). It takes me less than 30 minutes to get to Ado (where he took this writer to), as you can see. The N400 you are paying me now will take me far more time to make at Masaka.”

From A.Y.A., motorcyclists charge N50 to ECOWAS or Asokoro General Hospital at any time of the day, but Auwal says he does not go beyond A.Y.A.

Metropole’s findings revealed that there are military men and policemen, both serving and retired, among the motorcyclists riding around in the daytime, especially those who go further than the roundabout into other parts of Asokoro.

These men, who are older and more orderly in the more rugged and sometimes unkempt young men from the outskirts, operate freely and with more confidence, notwithstanding the presence of law enforcement agents, including men of the FRSC and VIO.

Despite Bala Mohammed’s directive that they should be arrested and prosecuted, the young men are not deterred. Sunday Orji, who lives in Mararaba, says there will always be a way out if he is arrested, as long as it is not by officials of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), who, once they arrest a motorcyclist and confiscate his bike, that’s the end for the owner.

“I was once arrested by the police and spent six hours begging. I had to pay N500 because I told them I had not worked that day. The other time I was arrested, they collected N3, 500 instead of the usual N10, 000.”

But the services of okadas are in high demand, particularly among people who have appointments and cannot go through the hellish traffic hold up that is the bane of residents who live on the outskirt of town.

“I hope your story does not lead to a clampdown on them [okadas], because they rescue us from that dreadful hold up,” said Victor Bako, a lawyer.

However, safety is a major concern for passengers. Most often than not, okadas do not obey traffic rules; they overtake from any side of the road and ride against traffic in one way streets. Even when a passenger warns them against speeding before climbing the bike, once they move, they ignore the warning.

Theresa Anjekele is a banker who closes late from work, but she prefers to endure the traffic hold up than take a bike home. Still physically and mentally scarred by her experience with an okada several years ago, she does not think she will take one anytime soon.

“This mark you see on my leg (she lifts her trouser to reveal a massive weal) was caused by one stupid acaba (Hausa word for okada) and it reminds me not to climb another one,” she says.

With risk comes reward for these stubborn okadas. They don’t risk arrest and their safety simply because they want to rescue passengers from the tiring Nyanya-Mararaba hold up. The longer and heavier the traffic, the better for them because then they have the bargaining power to charge higher fares.

Having plied the road for about two years, Auwal makes between N2, 000 and N3, 500 daily after deducting money for fuel and other expenses, and has saved enough money to buy a car to use for taxiing. He says he is better off now than when he had a monthly-paying job.

“I used to drive a school bus where I was paid N20, 000 monthly, but the pay was always delayed and even when it came, I had almost nothing left after settling my debts,” he says with a chuckle.

Now his two children are among the first pupils to have their school fees of N40, 000 paid. “Since I stopped driving the school bus and bought this motorcycle, I have been able to take care of my family and by the end of this month, I shall have my own taxi.”

In about a year’s time, the Federal Capital Territory is likely to have another minister, and whether or not he decides to really put a stop to the invasion of the capital territory by okadas, Auwal believes that after he buys his taxi he will no longer have to fear arrest, but says his other colleagues will always find a way around attempts to reduce their income.

“Any okada who plies this route from Nyanya-Mararaba to A.Y.A. and back will not want to stop, even if it means bribing law enforcement agents, because what we make on this road monthly is more than what some office workers make,” he concludes as the writer reminds him that he has reached his destination.

See below for more pictures: