After the “band” of okada riding in the Metropolitan city by the Lagos State government under the Fashola administration on the 407 roads for the okada riders not to ply it any longer; and judging from the reality recycling survival, millions of families making use of this road depend on this means to survive as the day roll on.
For instance, in the slum places
of where these riders live like in Ajegunle that have areas of Tolu, Badia, Amukoko, Boundary square, Ojo road etc, you will see hundred of these riders going after passengers coming back from the hard day's work in order to transport them to their various destination.
Since this band, a lot of families that feed from this means, whose fathers, brothers and relations that were unemployed who relied on them, have no choice than to engage their idleness through this means in order to stay far from offensive engagement.
Because they can’t fold their hands and see days roll-by when the government has silent their means of survival that is earning nothing for them in a country where abundance fences life. These okada riders with placards in hands, written with different statements have to be on the road to demonstrate their anger against the government policy from taking their livelihood away from them.
These angrier protesters from different okoda unions like the ACCOMORAN, MOAS etc were led by civil organizations who believe on the struggle of the oppressed. Before the protest left the venue of the rallying point where the protesters assembled their selves, the people were addressed by one of the activist in the civil organization who spoke to the protesters that they shouldn’t relent to combat the ACN government under the Fashola administration.
He confidently told all the angry protesters that the government doesn’t have any fundamental right to stop anybody from using the public roads. That, if the government wants to preserve the safety of lives from accident as they have serially claimed they want to do. They should provide decent jobs with adequate working condition in the public sector juxtaposed with better working minimum wage.
While he was saying this, there was uproar from the agitated crowd, yes o! Yes o! Government doesn’t have right to stop us from using the public road. Moreover, it is not their road. It is our money that they used to construct these roads. Among the protesters with placards said. ‘We are all tired with all these government laws of depriving us okada riders not to ply the road’.
Many of us according to a man holding a placard said. ‘I survived from this means. My wife and children depend on me to live. There is no way I could surrender to this imposed law by the government on me. That’s why I have to live today’s job to join my fellow okada riders to protest against this policy on us’.
After addressing the crowds with a lot of perspective to convince the riders that it is their fundamental right. Leaders of the civil organizations instructed the people to begin to move out of the rallying point for other people to have an acknowledgment of what really is going on in order to gain sympathy and solidarity from the Nigerian people, whose families also one way or the other is affected.
From the meeting point of the protest, the protesters with different written statement on the placard began to march out from the labour secretariat to the main road of Yaba with thunderbolt solidarity songs. As they marched, passerby, bus drivers, market sellers etc were looking at them to understand and congratulating them. Some applaud them and said. ‘This government is too hard on people who try to survive in a country where to get job is a serious challenge’. ‘We need to stop support them’, another said.
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