OKADA RIDERS AND GOVERNOR FASHOLA

Gov Fashola Fed Up With Okada Riders; 346 Okada Robbers Arrested In 11 Months, 1,259 Accidents Recorded In Two Months.

Worried by the menace posed by commercial motorcycles, a.k.a. Okada riders in Lagos State, Governor Babatunde Fashola is set to wield the big stick against recalcitrant riders who have defied all forms of measures taken by the government to make them comply with the law.
To this end, the governor has reconstituted the 32-member Lagos State Security Committee to urgently look into the menace posed by Okada riders in Lagos and submit its report in three weeks.
The governor lamented that between January this year and now, 346 robbery suspects were arrested on Okada, while 1,259 accidents involving Okada riders were reported in government public facilities. After reeling out the figures, Governor Fashola said he could no longer tolerate this, adding that the issue called for utmost concern.
“The last two months alone, from LASUTH to Ikeja, we had 179 cases of Okada accidents, within October and November alone. Out of that 179, 170 of the victims were passengers.
“At the Toll Gate emergency centre, we had 41 accidents reported there on Okada.
“All these reports are just for two months. In the combined reports from 20 government hospitals that we monitored over the last two months in October and November, we had 1,039 accident cases on Okada,” he revealed.
He explained further: “Now, with regards to crime, between January and now, 346 robbers were arrested on Okada. If you isolate that two months alone, October and November, it was 79 robbers on Okada. Those who got away in robbery cases on Okada were seven, three in October and four in November.
Fashola explained that the first report the committee presented to him on the menace of Okada riders is now four years old and needed to be reviewed urgently.
Apparently reacting to the argument in some quarters that unemployment forced majority of the people into Okada business, Governor Fashola acknowledged this but quickly submitted that there is no excuse for crime. “There are lawful ones where people who ride Okada don’t have jobs, but that is not acceptable, it’s not an excuse. There is no excuse for crime. Any government that takes itself seriously must reduce crime to the barest minimum.”
“Every government worth its mandate must reduce crime to the barest minimum because it is the only way every member of the society would be protected. Without law and order, economic activity will not thrive. Investors will also leave,” he added.
The committee is headed by Waheed Olusegun, a retired Deputy Inspector-General of Police, John Ahmadu (retired DIG), Vice Chairman; Brigade Commander, Lagos, Naval Brigade, Air Force Brigade Commander, Commissioner of Police, Customs Area Comptroller in Lagos, Commandant, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA); Director, State Security Service, eight Police Area Commanders, chairmen of Epe and Ajeromi local governments and Lagos Island East Local Council Development Area.
Others are the Permanent Secretary of the Teachers Establishment Pensions Office (TEPO), the Chief Neighbourhood Watcher in the state, Commissioners for Transportation and Rural Development, Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA); Managing Directors of MTN, Globacom, Airtel, Zoom Communication and the Head of the Vehicle Inspection Unit (VIO). The secretary of the committee is the Director of Finance in the Office of the Commissioner for Sports, Mr. Bashir Braimah.