It is no longer news that the Federal Government is considering nationwide ban of motorcycles as a means of transportation in the country. Nigeria, at present, is worst in all development indices. In virtually every aspect of our national life from education to health, from power to utilities, from transportation to the provision of pipe borne water and to security of lives and property, there is a glaring evident of neglect and total collapse.

Any nation that plays with its transport development undermines the major engine that propels socio-economic, prosperity, political integration, security and development because transportation plays a crucial role in the functionality and livability of cities by providing access for people to markets, education, recreation, employment, health care and other basic social services. In many Nigerian cities, transport situation has reached a crisis point; the consequence of several years of neglect by succeeding administration. The government’s inability to provide conventional means of transport has necessitated the use of motorcycles to move people and goods from one point to another under conditions considered to be unsafe and accident-prone.  The increasing growth in the number of motorcycles has come to solve the mobility needs of many urban residents in the light of inadequate public transport system and poor road conditions. It is obvious that the current security situation in Nigeria is very disturbing.

However, the government policy to ban motorcycles operation is discouraging and can lead to crime upsurge in the society. Government policies have consistently been constant in displacing people in the informal sector of their jobs, with no alternate recourse provided or even proffered. However, the concern here is the rate at which the business of Okada is increasingly absorbing people who have previously engaged in one or more occupation before such as artisans, unemployed graduates, retirees, and retrenched workers etc. Since Okada business provide a daily source of regular income for the operators, many people including the gainfully employed are also engaged in the business to argument their salary.

Also, non-payment of salaries and irregular income lured people to the business. The government must be cognizant of this fact and must identify inadequate public transport system as one of the several factors that contributed to the emergence and proliferation of motorcycle as a means of intra-city transport in Nigeria. Therefore, it is important to make the operation of the motorcycles more refined considering the poverty level in the country which further encouraged people to seek alternative means of survival. 

The Nigerian government must as well provide employment opportunities for our teeming youth as this will go a long way in the reduction of number of youth who as a result of unemployment took to motorcycle riding business. Government should be more alive to their responsibilities in the provision of an efficient integrated public transport system that will meet the demand of the public in terms of their mobility without much delay.

Oluwaseyi Joseph Afolabi is a Transport and Logistics Consultant