The Save Climate and Democracy Naija Coalition (SCAN) on Tuesday urged the Lagos State Government to urgently reverse the ban placed on commercial motorcycles and tricycles in the 15 local government areas of the state.
Spokesperson of the coalition, Ayo Ademiluyi, told newsmen in Lagos that the ban on the motorcycles and tricycles was “inhuman, unscientific and insensitive.”
The News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) reports that Lagos State Government on Feb. 1 commenced enforcement of the extant Transport Sector Reform Law 2018 which banned operation of Motocycles and tricycles in some local goverments and local council development areas.
Gbenga Omotosho, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, in a statement, said the decision was taken after a “robust assessment” between the government and the state security council.
The commissioner said the assessment focused on the safety of using motorcycles and tricycles as a means of transportation, adding that the casualty figures arising from their use were “scary.”
Ademiluyi, however, said that the terrible state of the network of inner roads in the state did not justify the ban.
He said: “These Okada and Maruwa ply on daily basis to relieve huge number of Lagosians of the stress of getting to their destinations.
“While we welcome multi-pronged approach to transportation in Lagos State including but not limited to water and rail transportation.
“This must be done systematically in a way that voluntarily discourages use of okadas and maruwas and not by forceful elimination of these two transport drivers.”
Ademiluyi said many riders were now unemployed graduates who took to the profession for lack of jobs.
He said it was in this wise that the demand for reversal becomes an immediate demand.
Ademiluyi said the group was aghast at the argument of the state government that it had purchased 65 new buses as palliative.
“This measures begs reason to assume that a mere 65 new buses will cater for the huge population of Lagosians, battling to get to their destinations daily,” he said.
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