In an effort to enforce the ban on commercial motorcycles, popularly known as okada, the Commissioner for Transportation in Lagos, Oluwaseun Osiyemi, and the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Wale Musa, oversaw the destruction of 1,500 seized motorcycles at the Lagos State Task Force premises in Oshodi on Monday, News About Nigeria reports.
The Lagos State Government, through its official social media account, shared images of the exercise, captioning; “Commissioner for #lagosMOT1, Oluwaseun Osiyemi, with the Permanent Secretary, Wale Musa, at the crushing of 1,500 seized commercial motorcycles at the Lagos State Task Force premises on Monday.”
This move follows the state government’s prohibition of commercial motorcycle operations on major highways.
The ongoing enforcement aims to address the resurgence of okada operators on the roads despite the ban.
Gbadeyan Abdulraheem, the Director of Public Affairs for the Lagos State Task Force, had earlier emphasised the challenges in enforcing the ban, particularly in border areas like Ojodu, where okada riders use neighbouring states as a refuge during enforcement activities.
“Ojodu is a border town, so some okada riders are using the neighbouring state as camouflage whenever we want to arrest them. This has been hindering our work in that area because we would not want to overstep our boundaries.
“We will try as much as possible to develop another strategy; we will surely work on the congestion,” Abdulraheem said in a previous interview.
The destruction of seized motorcycles underscores the government’s commitment to maintaining road safety and order in the state, despite challenges posed by the proximity of Lagos to neighbouring states.
