Like the dilemma of a man with wasp on his scrotum and a hammer in his hand, most Nigerian cities are in this unenviable situation with the issue of to ban or not to ban commercial motorcycle operators (Okada)
Okada, is a choice gift dashed out to jobless, uneducated party supporters used by politicians during elections to secure votes and protect such votes. After victory, these successful politicians give out Okada to their supporters in the name capacity building and empowerment but now that the victorious politician is in power, he wants to ban Okada or restrict them to certain parts of the city.
This is not the solution but a recipe for disaster. A good number of these Okada riders, are not educated, have no other source of livelihood and are off crime because they are engaged in Okada riding. Any forced ban of Okada, without providing alternative sources of income to these riders, will increase crime rate in the affected cities.
The administrators of these cities that want to ban Okada, should first tell us what happened to inner city transport system? Are there buses to enter areas of the city that do not have access roads?
Banning Okada for the sake of beautifying the city, giving good optics to tourists is not the solution. Leadership is ability to think outside the box and not resort to the easy way out of using hammer to solve every problem.
