·We pay N1000 for Okada from Mile 2 to Tin Can
As the ban on commercial motorcycles (Okada) by the Lagos state government from plying some roads in the state bits harder, workers, commuters and residents of the port city of Apapa have been speaking about how they have been coping, even as they lament the ban.
In separate interviews with Shipping Position Daily correspondents in Apapa last week, they opined that the government should have considered the peculiarity of the Apapa before coming up with such a decision.
The stakeholders also decried the hike in the cost of transportation around Apapa, stressing that a journey that cost N200 before the ban, now costs between N700 and N1000.
The Ports & Terminal Multipurpose Limited Chapter Chairman of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF) George Okafor, maintained that the decision has subjected freight forwarders to more hardship.
“Everybody is affected; this is a policy they made without considering stakeholders. Apapa is a port area and this where the federal government generates most of its revenue. But the government didn’t feel that they should consider the freight forwarders, because the stress is too much. Yesterday I had to trek from Flower Mill to Tin-Can second gate and it was terrible. So we are not coping because we are suffering, we are not happy at all”, he lamented.
Speaking further, he said that the decision has a very serious negative effect on their jobs and the time it takes them to do their works.
“It has a very serious cost effect. Like in PTML here we start examination by 10am, you see someone trekking from Mile 2 to Tin-Can and it will take that person more than two hours. So if there is anybody that wants to start his examination, it might not be possible, it will be difficult to drop containers and go for examinations”, he added.
Also speaking, a member of the Association of Registered Freight Forwarders of Nigeria (AREFFN) Mr. Azuka Obijiaku maintained that the ban is unacceptable because the Apapa access roads have not been fully reconstructed to allow vehicular movements in the area.
He expressed difficulties in getting to the office on time since the ban on commercial motorcycles (Okada) in the axis.
“The challenges are that the roads are not yet fully constructed and it is not yet ready to be put into use, there is also no vehicle around here for movement. As a result you see us trekking from Mile 2 to Tin-Can, some even trek from Apapa to Tin-Can”
“Most of us that work at Tin-Can, it has been very difficult for us to access our places of work, so you see us trekking to work since the ban on Okada, because there is no way we can get to our places of work”, he lamented.
“So it is really affecting us greatly and is also affecting the flow of work because a work that is supposed to take 30 minutes to be completed, you won’t get a means of getting to the place to do the work. So at the end of the day it will be incurring demurrage. So it has already been difficult for us we are asking the government to please speed up the work on the axis so that buses will start operating within their axis”
Meanwhile, a Diploma Student in Business Administration from Taraba State Polytechnic, Mr. Peter John who is a motorcyclist (Okada Man) along the axis told our correspondent that majority of them have returned to the north while more are getting set to travel.
He said that for some of them who are still here, majority just joined the business of okada riding and are still looking for transport fare to go back.
John said he borrowed N70, 000 from his friend to add to what he had to get a motorcycle at the rate of N190, 000 to ride in Apapa so as to raise funds to pay his school fees
“We are taking risk here. Some are just looking for transport money to travel back to our states, that is why we are still working. Some of them that are working now are new in the business, that is why they are still working; the ones that have stayed up to four months have traveled back to their states”
“For me, I am just three weeks old here and I bought this bike new N190, 000 and I borrowed N70, 000, and I have been able to raise only N60, 000 remaining N10, 000 balance. I am looking for transport, as soon as my money completes I will travel and sell the bike”
Responding on why okada are still seen in some parts of Apapa, he said that the Police in the axis has warned them not to ply the major roads.
“Trinity Police DPO warned them not to be plying the main road that they should be operating inside the traffic, because the DPO had already told the government that there is no okada in his area, he doesn't want to be seen as a liar”.
Also speaking, the Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Alhaji Adbullahi Inuwa said that it has not been easy coping with the ban, especially for area like Apapa, where okada is the major means of transportation.
“It has not been easy especially for the fact that Okada is the only major means of transportation, going by the road construction going on here. So for those who are operating in this axis, it has become a very big task for us; we now have to prepare ourselves. For me I already have about three canvasses for the trekking”
Also, a journalist who does want his name in print however narrated how he trekked from Apapa to Barracks bus stop due to the unavailability of okada.
Meanwhile, a clearing agent Mr. Ifeanyi Ogaranya who also resides around Apapa axis said that it was very bad for the government to ban Okada in a local government like Apapa where the road infrastructure has collapsed.
“The ban on commercial motorcycle to me is a welcomed development because of the security implications. But however a local government like Apapa that the road infrastructure has collapsed and you now ban Okada which is the major means of transportation for freight forwarders, because all of us do go to work with motorcycle”
He maintained that with the ban of commercial motorcycle, trade facilitation that the government has been preaching becomes a mirage.
Meanwhile, a legal practitioner in Apapa; Barrister Emmanuel Nwagbara lauded the state government for the decision.
“The ban first and foremost was made by the government for the sake of the general public. Because we recorded excesses on the parts of the Okada riders there were so many excesses on their parts”
“So the citizens have to adjust especially in the light of the palliative programme, the state government had just launched on the river routes. People will experience that sentiment but again we also see that it will be a wake-up call for the federal government to address these areas of deficiency”
“Why will people work from Mile 2 to Tin-Can it is because the road is not motorable. So people should actually call on the federal government to complete the construction of that route. So when they do that, more people will put more buses on the roads and move”
Also speaking the another freight forwarder; Mr. Paully Shedrack Nwaosu said that it has not been easy, adding that he now pays between N700 and N1000 for a movement that used to cost him N200.
“It has not been easy for me, if I get to Mile 2, I will ordinarily take Okada from there, but now they will be telling you that from Mile 2 to Tin-Can is now between N700 to N1000, you now ask yourself, how much do you make in a day. Though sometimes you will be compelled to trek from Mile 2 to Trinity then you will now enter Okada N300 to this place as against the N200 we used to enter before from Mile 2 to Tin-Can. So it has been so hectic”
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