Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has banned commercial motorcycles, popularly referred to as Okada, two years after he first announced a similar ban.
The latest ban takes effect on June 1, 2022.
The first ban on the governor’s watch was not totally adhered to and enforcement was sporadic and weak.
Okada riders continue to ply major routes and highways in densely populated and chaotic Lagos, breaking all known traffic laws as they weave past at break-neck speed.
In recent times, Okada riders have been accused of beating up and setting a sound engineer on fire in Lekki, one of the city’s calmer and highbrow neighbourhoods.
That piece of jungle justice led to police personnel clamping down on and seizing more ubiquitous commercial motorbikes in Lekki and other Lagos suburbs.
And now the governor has announced yet another ban on the Okada–a two-wheeled necessary evil in a city famed for its gridlock and bedlam.
“Governor @jidesanwoolu has announced a TOTAL BAN on Okada in some Local Govts in Lagos State, effective from June 1st 2022. The whole of IKEJA, SURULERE, ETI OSA, LAGOS MAINLAND, LAGOS ISLAND and APAPA LGAs. DPOs & Area Commanders, @Taskforce112 to enforce,” one of Governor Sanwo-Olu’s social media aides, Jubril Gawat, has tweeted.
Governor Sanwo-Olu has been heavily criticized for banning bike hailing services–who were coordinated and whose riders wore uniforms and obeyed traffic lights–alongside the first Okada ban of February 1, 2020.