Oyo State government has begun registration of commercial motorcyclists, also known as Okada, as part of measures to stem their use for criminal purposes.
The move came amid security concerns following the alleged influx of commercial motorcyclists into Oyo State from Lagos where they were banned and the parade by the state police command, on different occasions, some Okada riders were caught using the means of transportation to commit crimes.
Executive Assistant to Governor Seyi Makinde on Administration and General Services, Rev. Idowu Ogedengbe, disclosed this, yesterday, when he featured on an interview platform, Guests’ Forum of Oyo State Correspondents’ Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Ibadan said the registration involved biometric data capturing for all Okada operators and their owners in the state.
He said more than 5,000 commercial motorcyclists have been captured into the database and that the registration was ongoing.
He warned that any commercial motorcyclists that failed to register, would face the wrath of the law as Oyo State Road Transport Management Agency (OYRTMA) had been directed to apprehend violators.
“The Ministry of Works and Public Transport is working in consonance with the Management Information Centre of the Oyo State Government on a programme of registering and regulating all okada riders in Oyo State. If you are using your okada for commercial business, we want to have your details in our database. We will capture the chassis and number of that okada. We will get the phone number and pictures of that okada owner and even that of the rider.
“If any of them commits any offence or crime, we will be able to track them down. We are also concluding plans to kit them up with jackets. We have already given out the first contract and a total of 5,000 okada riders are already captured on that database.
“According to our governor, we are a government that depends on data, science and logic. We don’t just want to take a decision without first critically examining it, looking at it empirically. We all know that Okada business is a means of livelihood for some of our people. If we ban it outright, it will affect a lot of household income.
“What we want to achieve with this is to reduce the security threat that those people riding on motorcycles could bring upon our state. We don’t want to do it in a way that we will impinge on the rights of any law-abiding okada rider, going about with his means of livelihood.
“Just like it happened in the United States of America recently where commercial motorcycles were crushed for violating the state laws, we shall also get there if it is established that any of the Okada riders in this state violates our state laws. Any criminal elements among them shall be purged. So, if you are coming to Oyo State and you don’t have our registration, it is an immediate pointer that OYRTMA will spot you and arrest you because they would have known that you are not meant to be here. With that, before you even commit the crime, we have arrested you. We are going to pursue that aggressively.”
Ogedengbe also dismissed the speculation that the state is financially insolvent, though he admitted there were funding challenges as the administration had many projects to attend to at the same time.
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