BY LEVI JOHNSON
In what looks like an agreement to ban motorcycle, popularly known as Okada in the six states of South West, the Osun State Government has ordered the Department of Transportation to stop fresh registration of commercial motorcycle.
According to Osun State’s authorities, the purpose of the ban was to curb invasion from neighbouring states.
Governor Adegboyega Oyetola in a statement issued on Tuesday by his Special Adviser, Engineer Toke Olaniyan said the move was to check incursion of commercial motorcyclists from Lagos state.
READ ALSO: Lagos Set To Enforce ‘Okada’ Ban On Major Roads
He added that as a result of restriction placed on Okada in some local government areas of Lagos state, the riders have started moving to Osun.
Recall that on February 1, the Lagos State government enforced the traffic law that bans commercial motorcyclists from plying major roads in 15 local government areas of the state.
Olaniyan said the state government is in talks with ACCOMORAN and other stakeholders involved in intracity transportation to ensure adequate scrutiny of commercial motorcyclists with a view to checking insecurity in the state.
His words: “We are in constant touch with ACOMORAN and other associations concerned with intracity transportation in the state in order to ensure proper scrutiny of all operators to provide adequate measures for security and safety of residents.
”We are going to embark on a revalidation exercise which will involve registration of owners and riders.
“At this moment, we have issued a statement to stop further registration for fresh Okada riders and operators.
“Also, we are more concerned about the safety and security of our people and as such we want all persons to be observant and vigilant.
”We urge them to report any strange bike operators immediately to security agencies”.
