The National Conscience Party (NCP), Lagos State chapter, has said that the recent ban of commercial motorcycle and tricycle operations in parts of the state by the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration is draconian and dictatorial.
The party, in a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday, maintained that the policy, which took off on Saturday, February 1, 2020, was not only anti-masses, but wicked as it had taken away sources of livelihood from thousands of citizens, who would now join the already saturated unemployment market.
The statement, signed by Mr. Fatai Ibu-Owo and Sonaike Sonaike Wummy Shakiru, NCP Lagos Chairman and Publicity and Publications Director, respectively, maintained that the government’s action, which it believed was not well thought out, could heighten the state of insecurity in the state.
According to the party, the ban could lead to an upsurge in the unemployment figures, armed robbery, and kidnapping, and total breakdown of law and order as the government’s action had negatively affected the psyche of a people who had been impoverished under a harsh economy.
The party stressed: “We (NCP) Lagos State feel that the government did not take into consideration the frustrating traffic situation in areas like Apapa before taking the decision.
“It is pure carelessness for the government to proscribe peoples’ commercial activities and investments without providing alternatives.
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“What has Sanwo-Olu done as policy to substitute the okadas? If the government cannot provide jobs, is it not political senselessness to bar jobs?
“This policy is unacceptable as the Lagos State government has in so doing, has created a lot of hardship among the citizens, especially those who depend on the okada and keke for their livelihood and movement.
NCP said it was ironical that the same government of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which during political campaigns and the election, was sharing money for okada and keke operators to attract their votes, had after assuming power, denied the same people their means of livelihood.
It stated: “It is purely irresponsible for the government to ban people’s jobs without creating a replacement. What has Governor Sanwo-Olu done as policy to replace the okada and keke?
“If the government cannot provide jobs, is it not political insanity to ban jobs? We are reminded of the Yoruba saying that “an Oracle that couldn’t save or uplift should at least leave us the way we are.”
