Lagos State Government says it did not give licence to any company to operate commercial services with motorcycles popularly known as Okada.
This comes after the uproar that greeted the ban of Okada including Opay and Gokada and tricycles, known locally as Keke, in six local governments and nine local council development areas of the state.
The state’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday that the government is trying to regulate the activities of commercial motorcyclists.
“You are talking about registration; as far as I am concerned, the government has not registered any company to come and be running Okada. In fact, what the government was trying to look at is how to regulate these people so that their excesses can be curtailed,” he said.
“But as far as I know, nobody has been licenced to go and start running Okada because it is unfortunate that … the rate at which people are dying; the rate at which people are being robbed on the roads; the police are worried, everybody is worried.”
Mr Omotosho had said on Monday that the ban was considered following the assessment of the rate of accidents in the state.
On courier services operators, the commissioner said on the TV programme: “The guys who are doing courier services, for example, they don’t carry passengers and they don’t constitute so much danger. So, those ones are allowed.
“They have to be above 200cc and you have to have a box behind you that you are doing courier service and you don’t have to carry passengers; you have to be well-kitted and wear your helmet.”
