No Plan to Review Traffic Law on Okada Operation in Lagos

The Lagos State Government Sunday debunked insinuations, especially in the social media, of a plan to review the State’s Road Traffic Law 2012 as it concerns operations of commercial motorcycles (Okada) saying it has no intention of reversing itself on the matter as the Law was made in response to popular public demand.
In a statement signed by the Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Raji, the Government emphasized that it has no plans, either now on in the near future, to reverse itself on the matter of Okada operation in the State pointing out that by that decision considerable gains have been made in the area of protection of life and property in the State.
Noting that the decision to regulate Okada operation was not a unilateral one, the government maintained that it acted in response to the popular demand of the general public who were at the receiving end of the fatalities of commercial motorcycle’s daily operations.
It reiterated that the Road Traffic Law did not ban Okada operation in the State but restricted a category of motorcycles from operating on only 475 out of the 9,100 roads in the State, which represents 5.6 percent of Lagos roads, adding that the result and impact of the decision has been tremendous.
According to the statement, an average of 16 deaths and 646 injured patients were being recorded at the State’s secondary and tertiary hospitals every month as a result of motorcycle related serious accidents, but by March this year the number had dropped to only one to two deaths and less than 100 injured victims of Okada accidents a month.
“No doubt, we have all the reasons to thump our chest that we have been responsive and responsible in the discharge of our duty to the people of Lagos”, the government said, adding that no matter what the cynics think or say, Lagos State Government is the only government that has given recognition to the use of motorcycle as a means of commercial transportation through the instrument of the law and regulations meant to protect the riders and the generality of the citizenry.