The Lagos State Task Force has vowed to get okada operators off Lagos highways, saying that it is battle-ready for the recalcitrant ones.
The Task Force said that the intelligence it gathered, coupled with surveillance around Lagos metropilis in recent times, showed that the okada riders banned in 2022 from operating on the state highways and restricted routes were gradually returning to them in continuation of their illegal acts.
The Task Force Chairman, CSP Shola Jejeloye, who spoke on the issue, stated that the Agency also noticed the influx of illegal aliens from neighbouring countries into the city after this year’s Eid-el-Kabir celebration to resume operations on restricted routes, despite the ban on their activities still in full force.
According to Jejeloye, “some of the okada operators who had their bikes confiscated in the past have returned to Lagos from to resume their illegal operations. We have undercover operatives who monitor various locations across the State and we have it on good authority that these illegal commercial motorcycle operators are back to kick off their okada business. However, we are battle ready for them.”
The Chairman pointed out that Lagos is a metropolis that welcomes various individuals of different tribes, ethnicity and nationality, but added that some elements were trying to take advantage of the opportunity to perpetrate illegal activities which negatively affect well-meaning Lagosians.
“Foreigners who engage in legitimate businesses in the city are always welcome, but the Agency frowns at illegal aliens or criminals who perpetrate illegalities, one of which is riding okada on restricted routes across the State,” the Task Force chairman said.
Jejeloye reiterated that the ban on the activities of okada riders in six Local Government Areas and nine Local Council Development Areas was in line with the State Transport Sector Reform Law of 2018 which aims to maintain a mega city status as enshrined in the agenda of the current administration.
“Therefore, no recalcitrant okada operator will be allowed to truncate the efforts of the State Government.
“We have recorded numerous success stories since the ban across board, ranging from drop in crime rate, reduction in traffic bottlenecks occasioned by their recklessness, to reduction in accident cases reported in the orthopedic hospitals in Lagos.
“It is our duty and responsibility to ensure that these agents of anarchy are not allowed to return to the highways, and we will make sure that any operator caught will be made to face the music,” he added.
In line with this stance, on July 12, the Task Force carried out a massive clampdown on okada riders operating at 2nd Rainbow along the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, leading to several motorcycles being impounded.
