Uzum Pleads with DTSG: Rethink the Motorcycle Ban in Delta

By Johnson Ebigide

A former staunch member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State, Eugene Azuka Uzum, has passionately appealed to the Delta State Government to reconsider its stand on the banning of commercial motorcyclists (okada riders) in some parts of state.
Uzum, a lawyer, political strategist and policy consultant, spoke from his base outside Nigeria.
He said the decision would further worsen the socio-economic plight of the people in the state especially in the rural areas, adding that there were better options to the decision.
Uzum, who sounded worried, said that commercial motorcyclists had contributed immensely in the socio-economic wellbeing of the state, adding that one does not throw away the baby with the bathwater.
He maintained that there might be bad eggs among the okada riders, but that an outright ban should be shelved for now, considering the suffering in the land.
He argued that riders could not only be codified through the Ministry of Transport, but could be further guaranteed from community leaders and landlords in the state, adding that efforts could be geared vigorously towards monitoring the riders, instead of making the innocents to suffer unnecessarily from fending for their families at a time university graduates are fending for their families as okada riders because of unemployment in Nigeria.

Uzum maintained that the rural populace would be worse of with the decision, adding that most agricultural products were transported from the remotest parts to the urban areas of the state by the riders, just as he expressed the concern that farmers in such remote areas would be discouraged from commercial farming with the new development.
He said the state government might have meant well, considering the spate of kidnapping and other heinous crimes involving commercial motorcyclists in the state, but that the security operatives should do the needful to stem the unfortunate trend.
It would be recalled that the Delta State Government recently banned the operation of commercial motorcyclists, popularity known as okada riders, particularly in the state capital territory.