Umar Ibrahim has been riding motorcycle, popularly called okada, in Ibadan for 10 years. In those years, he says, he has seen it all – from extortion, robbery attacks and attempts to snatch his motorcycle.

He had been able to master the gimmicks of criminals masquerading as passengers to lure okada riders to lonely areas to snatch their bikes.

The man from Kano told Saturday Tribune during the week of one of his encounters with criminals masquerading as passengers. With his riding experience, he devised a means to save himself from a journey that would have been a robbery and would have possibly ended his life.

“I picked two male passengers from Bola Ige area in Oke Ado. They said they were going to Fodacis and while I was riding, I felt a gun in the pocket of one of them. I then turned off my fuel pump and the bike stopped. They asked why I stopped and I told them I ran out of fuel, they persuaded me to take them to one corner but I refused. They now said they did not have cash to pay me. I said okay and took off.

“That is how they snatch bikes from us. They take you to a corner where helpers are hard to find, and then they ask for your bike sometimes at gun point or with other weapons.

“Sometimes also, after you have gotten to the passenger’s destination, they would tell you they do not have money to pay for the trip without any prior information. And we have nothing to do at that point so we just drive away leaving the issue to God,” he said.

Ibrahim said he came all the way from Kano to Ibadan because “people work harder when they are away from home.” He also believed business in Ibadan would be better than it was in Kano.

“I have been riding for about 10 years here in Ibadan. I go home after some months to see my family in Kano. I came this far just to work. When you’re hustling at home, you’d not save like you would outside. If I was riding this bike at home, any money I get, I will just spend it, but out here, I have to make savings.

“And business here is not the same in the north, we make more money here. With this subsidy removal one can still make up to N6,000 in a day. But in the north, the passengers are struggling so how would they even afford transport fares. And I think it’s because we do not have leaders, if we had good leadership we would not come this far just to ride motorcycles for a living.

“It is better to come here and hustle and get N2,000 than to work at home to get N1,000. And if we do not come out here to work, nobody will help us. It is from what I make from riding this bike here that I take care of my family and pay my children’s school fees,” Ibrahim said.

The okada rider added that it was hard to keep track of how much he made in a month because it varies from month to month. However, he had been able to pay for the motorbike which he got on ‘hire purchase.’

“You know it’s not easy to keep track of how much you make in a month because it varies. What you make today is not what you make tomorrow; so it’s hard to keep track. Sometimes you will not even save anything after a day’s job. Like today, it has been raining throughout. So, days like this are gone.

“I took the bike on hire purchase for N380,000 about a year ago, but I thank God that I am done paying for it and I now work for myself. So it’s all on me if I choose to work hard or not,” he said.

Ibrahim revealed how interesting it was for him when he became friends with Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO) after their cat and dog relationship.

“One of our major challenges as bike riders is how the task force in the parks disturbs us. For instance, if I want to drop a passenger, as soon as I park for him/her to drop, the task force people will just appear and seize my bike and say I wrongly parked even without a “no parking” sign. And at the end of the day, they charge us about N5,000. That is the challenge every bike man will tell you he is facing.

“One interesting thing about this job for me was how I became friends with the Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIOs) around Dugbe. They had caught me several times for different issues then we became like brothers. Before then, we were like cat and dog so it is quite interesting for me to see how we relate well with each other now,” he told Saturday Tribune.

Ibrahim said that the removal of subsidy on petrol was making it hard for him and other motorcyclists to save as they merely got by every day. He also added that he wouldn’t have been here if the North had good leadership.

He said: “There Is no such thing as a full tank with the subsidy removal. Before now, with N2,500 I could fill my tank but I can’t fill my tank anymore. I just buy fuel worth N1,000 and when it is almost finished I top it up as I work. If you want to fill your tank it means you may not save any money that day.

“We do not have good leaders in the north. Most times we blame the president but I believe there are issues that the president would not even be aware of so, the leadership issue is from the grassroots. For instance, they banned motorcycles in Kano and that is some people’s source of livelihood that was removed and there were no alternative provisions to support those who depended on that to feed their families.”

He declared that he was thankful because throughout his 10 years of riding, he had never been involved in any kind of accident.

“I thank God that in my 10 years of riding I have never had an accident. I was a motor vehicle driver before I started riding a bike and since then, I’ve never experienced any kind of accident. I am really thankful to God,” he said. (Saturday Tribune)

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