Lagos CBD Has Issued A Warning To Criminals And Okada Drivers About Illegal Activities

Miscreants and operators of commercial motorbikes, often known as Okada, have been warned by the Lagos State Government not to operate unlawfully within the Central Business Districts.

Mr Gbenga Oyerinde, Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on CBD, gave the warning, according to a statement released by the state government.

This was in response to allegations of miscreants terrorizing business owners, customers, and visitors in the Ikeja and Lagos Island business zones, as well as assisting Okada riders who operate illegally on prohibited routes.

“He added that as the holiday season approaches, business districts normally see a significant influx of shoppers, which miscreants and hoodlums exploit to commit all kinds of wrongdoing,” the statement stated in part.

“The Special Adviser assured residents, shoppers, and traders in the Ikeja and Lagos Island business districts that the current administration would make life easier for them, and that the administration would not tolerate illegal activities by miscreants posing as “omonile” in any part of the state’s business districts.”

“He warned youth associations and community development associations in the Ikeja and Lagos Island Business Districts to warn their relatives that anyone arrested would be prosecuted, just as he declared that no one would be allowed to derail the CBD’s set objectives as enshrined in the State government’s T.H.E.M.E.S Agenda.”

“While criticising Okada operators’ defiant attitude toward traffic laws governing their operations, Oyerinde emphasized that the prohibition on Okada and tricycle operations on specific routes within the Lagos Island CBD is still in effect, and CBD operatives will strictly enforce it.

“As a result, he issued a warning to commercial okada drivers, bus drivers, dispatch riders, and tricycle operators operating within the Lagos Island Business District to follow traffic rules and regulations as set out in Section 3 of the Lagos Road Traffic Law 2012.”

“It is very disheartening that, despite the efforts of CBD operatives to ensure smooth traffic situations within the Island Business District, the activities of Okada operators, commercial bus drivers, cab drivers, and private car owners, aided by miscreants and hoodlums to park indiscriminately within the business district, has worsened the situation,” Oyerinde was quoted as saying.

Market leaders and owners of stores and plazas with items exhibited on walkways and roads were also urged to remove them immediately or face the full force of the state’s environmental and physical planning laws.