Opinions of Tuesday, 28 January 2020
Columnist: www.mynigeria.com
I consider myself lucky. Lucky to have a bike at my door- five, six of them jostle to carry me daily and a dozen by night. It's just N50 but it means a lot to them. Some drive very fast with reckless abandon just to make a good race to and Fro. All for the mulla.
So when Lagos State decided to ban bikes and tricycles yesterday ahead of February 1st; I began to imagine all the things that could extra-ordinarily go wrong.
You know most of the Hausas that take you on rides in your neighborhood and on the highways don't speak English shey? And they are not Normal- they ride so fast. Imagine what would happen when an army of expatriate riders who came to Lagos to hustle via road transport are dismembered at the head?
A revolution right?
Who better to lead a revolution other than northerners who are not scared to die? Don't get me wrong, we are not riding a tribal narrative- we are riding the unemployment narrative here. As countless as the bikes and Keke's are of this Lagos, they are the only things that keep us sane.
At my last workplace in Opebi, Friday was an eyesore. Biking all the way from Berger to Opebi was what kept me. Biking and entering Keke. So imagine what could go wrong on February 1st?
It's quite sad that in this part of the World, we think unidirectionally. We don't consider the pros and cons. It is worse that OPay and Gokada will not be seen on the streets as well.
How can you ban a solution to employment . Okada company’s like Gokada, OPay and max have helped soooo many people . Wow . Y’all are Wild. Wild .
— Bolanle Olukanni (@bolanleolukanni) January 27, 2020