According to report reaching oyogist.com, Governor of Oyo state, Engineer Seyi Makinde has revealed how the state economy could benefit from the ban on okadas in Lagos state.
Recall that Lagos state government had placed a ban on the use of Okada across the state.
The Governor disclosed this in his quarterly media chat on BCOS TV this morning in the state capital.
He said: “We visited Kigali in Rwanda, it’s about the size of Oyo State. We saw okada there and they were well organised.”
“The question is, are the okada riders filling a gap? If you are focusing only on one side of the spectrum of demand and supply you won’t achieve much. It’s elementary economics. If the demand is there, the supply will exist to fill the gap.”
“At the security meeting one of my colleagues said ‘let’s not ban them but restrict them’ so I asked them what is the percentage of okada that ply the road at the time you stated. So, we did an experiment to check the theory. We went to Ojoo as well as Toll Gate.”
“We could barely count okadas and that tells us a story that when the roads are modernised, the demand for okada will fall. In Rwanda they did not ban them but they were integrated into the transportation scheme and that what we plan to do in Oyo State.”
“People have said ‘oh they banned okada in Lagos State and they are all coming to Oyo State’ and my response is we need to solve the problems from Lagos to expand our economy. For example, the dry port will address the gridlock in Apapa and expand our economy at the same time.”
“We need to think out our own solution using data and logic and if there are places where such problems have been solved we go there and learn. Like waste management in Rwanda is top notch. We have a lot to learn from them.”
“If we are doing things in the past and are not working then we need to change our strategy.”
