Posted by By Moyo Fabiyi on
About a million commercial motorcyclists, popularly known as okada riders, are currenly plying the Lagos roads.
About a million commercial motorcyclists, popularly known as okada riders, are currenly plying the Lagos roads.
Of this figure, only two per cent of the riders are licensed, while a few others present riders' cards to law enforcement officers on demand. These were made known by the Lagos Sector Commander, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Mr. Kayode Olagunju, while speaking on a television programme, in Lagos.
Reacting to the complaint that the prices of helmets had soared since the enforcement of its use by FRSC officials, Olagunju said his men would not relent in their bid to enforce the law.
'The prices of crash helmets soared because people did not believe that we could enforce the directive. They waited till the last minute,' he explained.
He, however, assured that the prices of the helmets would crash in the next two weeks, 'because many sellers have ordered for them and when they are delivered in a few weeks' time, prices will come down.'
Olagunju said wearing of crash helmets was just one of the regulations on road safety which the FRSC would soon enforce, adding that: 'next time it may be riders' licence that will be requested from okada riders.'
He advised commercial motorcyclists, who rely only on riders' card, to obtain riders' licence because the law requires them not only to be trained but also to possess valid licence before they could operate.
Olagunju warned that those who obtained vehicle drivers' licence in Lagos, from August last year till date, might have bought a fake licence since the FRSC, Lagos Sector, has not been producing the document since then.
The plan by the Lagos state government to produce its own vehicle drivers' licence, Olagunju said, is before the Presidency in Abuja. Until the matter is resolved, neither the Lagos state government nor the FRSC, he vowed, will produce the licence.