Okada Riders Protest Non-Delivery Of Jacket After Payment By Govt.

 

By Yusuf Oketola

SOME commercial motorcycle operators in Osogbo have bemoaned the State Government of Osun for non-delivery of the riders’ uniform jackets to them, months after they were forced to pay. 

According to the commercial motorcyclists, 90 per cent of them have not been given the riders jacket which the government had promised would be delivered within a month after payment. 

Some of the commercial motorcyclists who spoke to OSUN DEFENDER during the medium’s visitation to some popular junctions in Osogbo, yesterday, said each of them was made to pay a sum of N2,500 for the jacket. 

They noted that only those who paid for the jacket at the early stage received it, while 90 percent of them were going around with the ticket issued to them by the government as evidence of payment.

The uniform jacket policy was launched as part of the government’s effort to sanitise the activities of commercial motorcycle operators in the state.

Governor Adegboyega Oyetola while speaking during the launch of the programme on March 21, 2021, had said the effort is to curtail the activities of hoodlums who perpetrate evil under the disguise of being commercial motorcyclists.

Oyetola said it was unfortunate and disgusting that some hoodlums and undesirable elements have over years taken advantage of unregulated nature of activities of commercial motorcyclists to engage in unwholesome activities such as robbery, kidnapping and pickpocketing.

However, the motorcyclists said the state government, instead of issuing the uniform jackets to them, resorted to reduce the highway fine for them.

According to one of the commercial motorcyclists who identified himself as SOLAR, the government may not deliver the jackets to them again since the highway fine has been reduced from N5,000 to N3,400. 

All efforts to get the reaction of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Works and Transport, Engineer Hussein Olaniyan, proved abortive as at the time of filing this report, as he was not available for comment.