The "Okada" Society (2)

An opponent of the Lagos State government’s restriction on “Okada” operations, in trying to convince me to reverse my support for the measure, mentioned that several countries allow commercial motorcycles to operate – Benin Republic, Rwanda, Uganda and Cameroun. He also speculated that some unspecified nations in Latin America and South-East Asia also use motorcycles for public transportation. These countries, you will observe, are exclusively from the most backward and poorest regions of the world. My response should be predictable to any regular reader of this column – those are not the type of nations Lagos State should be benchmarking! The vision the government in Lagos articulated at some of the Lagos Economic Summits I’ve attended (Ehingbeti) is to build Lagos into Africa’s model megacity comparable with the best in the world! One of my biggest concerns about the socio-economic implications of “the Okada society” for our people is the impact on distribution of skills and competences. Ask yourself the question – if we didn’t have “Okadas”, what jobs would the typical indigenous Nigerian commercial motorcyclist be doing? These would be the profile of persons who would be auto mechanics, plumbers, electrical technicians, vulcanisers, welders, bricklayers and masons, carpenters, etc. Some could be transport and haulage assistants, chauffeurs, barbers, etc. Already, these categories of tradesmen and artisans are increasingly hard to find in Nigeria and we are already importing a large number from neighbouring countries. It is not difficult to find out why. All of these activities require training and apprenticeship, sometimes for more than two or three years. All the training riding an “Okada” requires may be accomplished in three days. The consequence is that Nigeria is steadily destroying its base of middle-level skilled technical manpower. We are building up a large population of persons who do not have any skills and competences beyond riding a motorcycle and who will sooner than later have families and societal obligations as they advance in age – in short, we are building up a large army of unskilled, frustrated and disconnected population groups. God help us when that situation matures into the predictable social explosion that can be expected! I gathered that the Lagos State government made three offers of alternative employment to the leadership of the “Okada” associations, all of which they rejected – an invitation to form cooperatives and operate BRT buses which would allow them to participate in a sustainable element of the government’s transport model; involvement in the various farming schemes which the state had developed; and sending the “Okada” riders to the 17 skill acquisition centres which the state government had set up to acquire skills in trades and vocations, with the opportunity of accessing microfinance upon the conclusion of their training. It is instructive that the motorcyclists were not interested in any of these offers! The continued influx of uneducated and unskilled persons with no roots in the community, many of them undocumented foreigners into the country in an unchecked wave of net migration, cannot be a sensible thing to encourage. Migration may be desirable and certainly people should be able to decide to relocate to another society whenever they feel economic or other opportunities lie elsewhere, but doesn’t that have to be moderated by clearly thought-out policy and laws? Is there any policy or research that supporters of “Okadas” can point to that has evaluated the Obama: Hope, change, developing world implications of the current “Okada” migration? Has anyone prepared for the implications on social services, housing and slums, neighborhoods, health and education? In short, are we content to walk blindly into the next generation of social disasters that Africa so regularly creates because no one is prepared to think towards the future? There is even a health and lifestyle dimension to the matter – our people no longer walk. Anywhere in the world, except you take a personal car or taxis, commuters will expect to be dropped at a bus-stop and then to walk, say, for about 10-15 minutes on average to their home. In the mornings as well, workers and businesspersons will typically walk some minutes to their closest train or bus stations. I personally have found that anytime I travel outside Nigeria, I come back healthier – I eat less and I walk more! However, in Nigeria, with the “Okada” phenomenon, a large percentage of people do not walk at all. They take an “Okada” to the bus-stop, or indeed straight to their destinations, and vice versa. No matter how short the distance is, people simply hop on a motorcycle. In effect, we are in the early stages of building an unhealthy generation that never walks! Medical and health practitioners will understand that, given the level of stress and tension in our society, perhaps we are building up a health time-bomb as well! As I wrote last week, commercial motorcycles are a social concern for reasons of health and safety, security, transportation economics, urban and city planning and effects on population and demography. They were the highest single source of road accidents and security breaches in the state with lost lives and limbs running into thousands. They are a sign of under-development and they perpetuate it, denying people and the community of skills and competences required in a modern society.