Stakeholders in Bonny Local Government Area have called on the relevant authorities in the area to outrightly ban the operations of commercial motorcyclists, popularly known as Okada, and explore other options of mass transit to ease the burden of transportation currently facing commuters in the area.

This is coming as majority of commercial motorcycle operators, popularly known as Okada, especially, those of Northern Nigeria extraction, suspended their operations for fear of reprisals by youths of the area in the aftermath of the killing of an indigene of the area by scavengers said to be of Northern Nigeria extraction.

This action by the Okada riders left several commuters going to church and other engagements in different parts of the island on Sunday stranded as Okada was the main means of transportation in the area and these are mostly manned by operators from the Northern part of the country.

Kristina Reports was unable to reach the Chairmen of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) in Bonny LGA to confirm if the suspension was by the union or a personal decision of the Okada riders themselves.

Some of the Okada riders, however, objected to such suggestions, saying that not only was the business a means of survival to many of the operators, but that majority of them have been law abiding in line with the directives of their respective unions.

One of them, who identified himself as Edem, said “this is our means of livelihood. After graduating from school, yes, I’m a graduate, there is no job. So, we resorted to riding Okada to survive and now they want to take it away from us?”

“They can bring more keke, taxis, busses but they should allow us to also choose which of them to do to earn a living for ourselves. The incident that happened has nothing to do with Okada riders so they should leave us alone.”

On his part, an indigene of the area, Dr Bara Kabaka Brown, on his verified Facebook wall, suggested that “Ban Okada in Bonny. Bring in 200 Keke and regulate its operations”, positing that the deployment of tricycles, also known as Keke NAPEP, could be an alternative to the Okada debacle.

A security personnel, who preferred anonymity, asserted that it was long overdue to ban the operations of the Okada in the area given the menace they constitute to both commuters and pedestrians, stressing that many of the Okada were reckless in their driving.

“Recall that recently, a young lady, whose husband is a well-respected and popular teacher in the island was killed by an Okada rider, not to talk of several others who either lost their lives to Okada or got seriously injured and had to spend huge amounts of money to get treatment. Those who were not so lucky had their legs amputated or became crippled for life.”

He pointed out that aside the menace they constitute to commuters and pedestrians, they are also a quick means of ferrying criminal elements from one part of the island to the other, and in some cases act as sources of intelligence gathering for the criminals.

“Even when the current local government chairman came on board and ordered a ban of their operations in the night, some of them still ply at night. When accosted by the police some of them will say the bike belongs to either Army or Navy personnel and will make calls and the policemen will be intimidated and leave them to continue.” 

A UK based indigene, who preferred anonymity, called on the current local government Chairman, David Irimagha to emulate his predecessor, Edward Pepple, who introduced a public mass transit service to ease the sufferings of commuters in the area, urging him to purchase busses and cabs and deploy them as replacement for the commercial motorcyclists and tricycles.

Though, Irimagha was unavailable to respond to enquiries from Kristina Reports, an official of his administration, who prefers not to be named as he was authorized to speak, said the local government council was reviewing the situation to find a lasting solution to the multifarious challenges in the public transport sector.