On the Mararaba- Nyanya Expressway, it is common sight to see hordes motor cycle riders riding against the traffic, as they convey hurrying commuters desperate to beat huge traffic jam to work at the Abuja city centre and making the route one of the most accident-prone routes and unpredictable death traps for motorists and paedestrians. ISA BEST OMOREGBEJI writes on the growing menace and the helplessness of authorities who should be concerned.
typical commuter coming from the Nyanya-Mararaba axis suffers psychological trauma, stress, anger, anxiety and frustration in the middle of traffic gridlocks. For some, it is no more an issue; they have got used to it. For others, the mere thought of it is harrowing. For this reason, many have missed appointments, job interviews or, even, business deals, because they could not break free of traffic on time.
Understandably, many have opted for a quicker means of getting to their destinations: motorcyclists. The reason for the option cannot be far-fetched, because motorcycles weave through traffic, get into impossible places and are far more flexible than vehicles.
Sad thing is, these motorcyclists, in their bid to get their hurrying passengers to their destinations, sometimes as far as AYA or Nyanya, drive against traffic, hit pedestrians, are run over by oncoming vehicles and, worse, cause a lot of commotion.
During week days, from as early as 6am, motorcyclists and their passengers can be seen trying to get away from it all, as they race through tight corners, bearing their passengers, from Mararaba in Nasarawa State, to AYA in Abuja, for as much as N500 or N400, depending on the nature of the traffic.
For Saliu Ado, a motorcyclist, it depends on the heaviness of the traffic around Nyanya.
“Before I carry a passenger, I must know how the road be, then I charge am the money wey he go pay. If I no do like that, we go dey make wahala for road.
“If me and the passenger understand ourself, we fit go anywhere. If na Nyanya, na N200. If na AYA, na N400,” he said in vernacular.
For another motorcyclist who simply gave his name as Joe, he was bent on making ends meet by the only means he knew and would let nothing stop him.
“Oga, all of us dey hustle for this town o. I no go fit stop this one wen I do make another person come scatter am for me. I dey carry passengers go AYA and, even, Nyanya. Na money dey make the difference,” he said with a sly smile.
Well, how did Joe and others like him begin to flout traffic laws and get away with it? Well, simply put, they have been at it for so long that, since officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and Directorate of Traffic (VIO) have failed to arrest or call them to order, it has become a modus operandi.
But it was not always so.
Upon the appointment of Lieutenant-General Yusuf Buratai as Chief of Army Staff, it was rumoured that he lived around the Nyanya-Mararaba axis. Proof of this could be seen as soldiers paraded the length and breadth of the Nyanya-AYA Expressway, maintaining law and order, whipping motorists into place and ensuring that calm and sanity returned to the area. Traders who encroached on the road were given their marching orders, shacks too close to the road were demolished and their owners warned. Careless drivers searching for passengers, who would rather be in the way calling out to their passengers than park well and do so, got a taste of the soldiers’ whip.
Very few people who never expected the situation to be corrected could not hide their awe at the role the soldiers played.
Sadly, all that changed when the soldiers were alleged to have abused a commercial bus driver who had flouted traffic rules, by making him climb the roof of his bus and keep on frog-jumping.
The soldiers were called off the road and the madness returned. Albeit it, uncontrolled by the FRSC and VIO officials.
At the time of writing this, commuters heading towards Mararaba, Keffi, Akwanga, Jos, Makurdi and other towns outside Abuja have to sweat through the traffic, as they wait for hundreds of law-flouting ‘okada’ men to speed past before they continue on their journey.
Worse, the FRSC and VIO personnel situated along the Nyanya Building Materials’ Market area and, even at the Abacha Road area, stare on helplessly as they speed past, hit pedestrians, collide with commuters and run into on-vehicles, most times, with more momentum and speed, killing their passengers instantly.
When traffic builds up along the road, the journey from the city-centre, which should be just about 25 minutes, takes almost two hours. When the menace of ‘okada’ men is added, the journey could take far more than two hours.
A resident of New Nyanya, Salisu Ibrahim, who works at the Federal Secretariat, managed to reach AYA round-about at 8.25am on Wednesday – four hours after leaving his home and staying stuck in traffic but had to alight to hop on an ‘okada’ plying one-way to be able to arrive on time, since “there was something very important I needed to do at the office,” he said.
Although he conceded to knowing that it was dangerous and against traffic rules to do, he would not be accused of having flouted the law.
“For goodness sake, this is the only route those of us here ply to town. Until government addresses that and solves the grid-lock of traffic we face here, just like it did to Lugbe and Kubwa, it won’t be sensible to start a clamp-down,” he said, a scowl on his face.
“When there were demolishing houses around the city centre, didn’t they know this will be part of the challenges? Let them fix the root problems and stop making live unbearable for the average citizens through their trial-and-error policies,” he said.
What is more worrisome is that motorist and motorcycles that drive against traffic, most times do this before the prying eyes of the FRSC officials.
More and more people now engage in the act making vehicular movement difficult for drivers who have right of way.
What has baffled many is what distracts or prevents the FRSC and VIO officials from nabbing these murderous, risk-taking ‘okada’ men. But, then, they come in droves every morning, making drivers who have false or no papers quake in their cars. How is it that they cannot have the same effect on the ‘okada’ lads who drive against traffic?
The consensus is that they are too busy ensuring that commercial and private car owners meet the requirements before they can ply the roads.
When LEADERSHIP Weekend attempted to speak to some of the FRSC operatives, they would say nothing. While many claimed not to be “authorised to speak,” a few ignored this reporter, while fewer still agreed to speak, on the condition that they would be referred to as “anonymous.”
When LEADERSHIP Weekend agreed to the condition put forth by the officer, he disclosed that, many times, the FRSC and VIO personnel took to their jobs with so much seriousness and, would have recorded tremendous success so far, but for the wealthy and highly-placed, who go around in their sirene-fitted cars, flouting traffic laws and driving against traffic, just to be punctual for their appointments.
“Security personnel such as military men and policemen, mostly from barracks along this axis, are some of the biggest problems we have and not the ‘okada’ men. How can you expect the ‘okada’ men to obey the law, when those who signed it can’t obey it?”
This is not to say, though, that they cower from doing their jobs at all times. No.
“Often, motorists caught in the act by committed law enforcement agents of the FRSC and, in most cases the military personnel, are either asked to pay a fine, have their motorcycles impounded or forced to go back and take the right way,” he said.
He, however, made an exception for bullion vans.
“Those ones need to be on their way, so that thieves do not take advantage of the traffic to rob them of peoples’ hard-earned cash,” he corrected.
A motorist, Kingsly Agada, who plied the road constantly, alleged that the menace would not hold off, since road traffic officers neglect part of their responsibilities and make drivers who drive without ‘papers’, instead of stopping those who kill pedestrians, while driving against traffic.
But many understand why these traffic officers are overwhelmed. They would need more than they have presently to contain the ‘okada’ riders who can become a mob as quickly as they can make away when they hit a commuter or pedestrian.
When this is done, the duty now falls to officers of both the FRSC, VIO and the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to get the victim to the hospital to avoid obstruction of traffic flow.
According to the FRSC’s statistics, Nigeria is the second highest country with road traffic accident fatalities, out of the 193 countries captured by the World Health Organisation in a survey.
But, who owns jurisdiction and can arrest anyone who flouts road/traffic laws?
According to a bus driver known as ‘Lagos’ who spoke to this writer, said he has plied the road, driving a coaster bus, for 12 years.
He wondered why the ‘okada’ men could not wait in traffic like every other person, seeing as others could endure it for as much as two hours.
But another motorcyclist, Ahmed Rogo, thought differently,
“We dey only do wetin we dey see. If police and army and Road Sfety (FRSC) no dey drive one-way, why we go drive one-way? We for don stop since na,” he said.
When contacted for his reaction on this dangerous practice, FRSC Sector Commander, FCT, Sunday Oghenekaro, agreed that driving against traffic was a dangerous decision which more than a few cyclists around the Mararaba axis loved to toy with, despite the effort of the men to nip it in the bud.
According to him, analysis showed that the FCT recorded the most road crashes. Therefore, he called for more work to make the roads safer, just as he blamed government functionaires for encouraging the practice of driving against traffic with siren and escorts.
He would not agree that his officers deployed to such roads normally closed from work before the traffic started building, when they should be checkmating the activities of motorists who engage in the dangerous act.
Oghenekaro revealed that the command had arrested a number of offenders who were mandated to pay various ranges of fines, from N5000, depending on the nature of their offences, as penalty for violating traffic law and order.
“FRSC officers cannot stop a convoy which moves fast, even when the driver is violating traffic rules. If they do that, they may get killed. Therefore, the only option to take is allow traffic law offenders have their way, while the officers take their vehicle number plates and write to their organisations to caution them.
“Being a uniformed man does not make an officer above the law or give him the right to endanger the lives of innocent citizens.
“My men deployed to that area stay at work up to 11pm in the night, so I don’t believe it when you tell me that they go home before 5pm. No, I don’t,” he told LEADERSHIP Weekend.
While many try to fain ignorance, the FRSC Unit Commander for Nyanya, Mr. Narth Ugboh, insisted that many of the passengers who hop on ‘okada’ were not unaware of the risks they were taking.
“If you know the risks, why take them at all? If it would take a 30-minute delay for you to get to your destination safely, won’t that be worth more than losing your life? The most important thing here is safety and safety can take you to any length, so long as you are safe. The maxim is ‘walk safe, otherwise don’t’,” he added.
But would anything be done about the menacing incursion of the ‘okada’ men be reined in?
Ugboh would not trapped into committing himself.
“There are many factors which help those young men get away with what they are doing. While we try to control them from time to time, our public officials who feel that they must be punctual and get to any assignment, they must know that the citizens watch their example.
“If you break the law, you don’t expect those who look up to you to do any better. But, then, we Nigerians are subject to the constitution. It is not meant for some people; it is for everyone. If we all obey the law, we will be better off,” he said, as he warned truant motorcyclists who always flout the law to begin to learn or prepare to face the consequences, especially, around the Mogadishu Cantonment, Karu Bridge and the Abuja-Nyanya-Keffi Highway.