A lawmaker in the Oyo State House of Assembly, Babatunde Kazeem, has raised an alarm over the increasing rate of commercial motorcyclists popularly known as 'Okada' riders in the state, as he said their unchecked influx has been threatening the security of residents.
Kazeem, an All Progressives Congress, APC member in the Assembly, gave the opinion, during a chat while speaking on the menace being perpetrated by the 'Okada' riders.
The lawmaker, representing Oyo East/West State Constituency, noted that there was the need to for the operators, riders, and others including private owners to duly register with relevant authorities with designated identification numbers that will help government and security agencies improve on the security architecture of the state.
Lamenting the alarming rate of influx of unscrupulous elements into the state under the guide of 'okada' riding from Lagos and its neighboring states, the lawmaker, among other things, urged the state government and Governor Seyi Makinde, to urgently put security measures in place to curb high influx.
The lawmaker maintained that the stiff regulation in neighboring Lagos State in many areas has pushed criminal elements illegitimate riders downside into the state with the increased presence of motorcycle riders on all roads within the state thereby, constituting major security threat to residents.
Highlighting the importance of the commercial motorcyclists to the state's economy, the lawmaker explained that commercial motorcycle has become one of the man's of transportation across the world because of its ease of movement and flexible navigation along difficult roads.
He noted that the operation of commercial motorcycle has also culminated into huge economic contribution to the society and has since become more preferable to taxis because of efficiency of movement during traffic gridlocks.
However, the lawmaker said, despite the economic advantage and the easy access it provides for commuters, it also portends great security threat to the state, adding that crime perpetrated using motorcycles over the years range from insurgent attacks, kidnapping, armed robbery reckless riding leading to avoidable deaths, among others.
In his reaction to the lawmaker's submission calling for the regulation of 'Okada' riders in the state, the Executive Assistant to Governor Makinde on Security, CP Sunday Odukoya (rtd) opined that the influx of 'Okada' riders was not only peculiar to the state, adding that no one should displace of his livelihood without first creating another source of livelihood for them, saying: "If you do, you have definitely tried to create another insurgency in that state."
"A lot of graduates are among this Okada riders, so if you know you don't have anything for them to do, why displace them of their livelihood."
"All we need to do is called identity management, we can zone them, give them code numbers and colours. Capture their identity, name, age, phone number, next of kin, telephone number, vehicle registration number and all other necessary things to zone them."
"Any man moving from Agodi down to Alakia for instance will be identified because of their colour and code number, it will be easy for them to be tracked, in case of any issue."
"For me personally, it is not by banning them that would solve the problem, in Oyo State, thank God for the method applied in progress,they are capturing their progress, they are doing it gradually and we are progressing on it."
"If we want to be sincere with ourselves, we can see that crime rates in Oyo State is the lowest in Nigeria compered to other states."
"The governor has invested so much on security, just of recent, he had meetings with rank and files in the police, even his corporal l, constable down to his commissioner, he had meetings with them, he asked them for their needs, and gave all the area commanders vehicles, and he is still planning to get more for the division."
"I served in Agodi 2014 and I know what was on place on ground then, a corporal cannot walk in the governor's office anytime, but the governor's office is open and he goes on patrol at night asking what they need, and see them."
"I would just advice that we appreciate the good governance that is in the place and politics should be aside. There are streets light around and security men on patrol can see far compared to when there was none and security men put their lives in danger by not seeing afar."
"The narrative has changed and people are praising the governor because they have not had it so smooth like this before."
"And they should set politics aside and think outside the box and set the track moving on what is called good governance," Odukoya posited.
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