The governor said there is no need to replicate Amotekun in Lagos.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State has said that traffic robberies and accidents have significantly reduced following the directive on motorcycle transportation.
He spoke during a chat on Channels TV’s Sunday Politics programme.
Commercial motorcyclists called Okada riders were banned by the governor from plying in six local government areas in the state – Eti-Osa, Ikeja, Surulere, Lagos Island, Lagos Mainland, and Apapa and nine local government councils areas.
It is not the first time the government would impose the measure.
In January 2020, the government banned the operation of motorcyclists in 15 local councils across the state.
“Significant improvement”
The governor said that since he gave the directive to restrict the motorcyclists in certain areas of the state, residents have written to him commending the development.
“We’ve also seen a significant drop in accidents. You know, we don’t see people being lame, you know, cutting off limbs in our hospitals again, because these were reckless driving that usually terminate people’s life, unexpectedly,” he said.
“We’ve seen tremendous improvement in that statistics to support. In terms of death drop in the last two months. At the peak of it, we saw about 550 Okada-related accidents at the peak of it in January for over a month.
“Now, it’s coming down to less than 100 direct Okada accidents that we’ve seen, from our hospitals.”
Amotekun
Mr Sanwo-Olu said there is no need to replicate the Western Nigeria Security Network called Amotekun Corps in Lagos.
Since its establishment in 2020, the security outfit has been operational in five states in the South-west except for Lagos.
He said the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corp is a replica of the security outfit which “works closely” with the Nigerian Police Force.
“We have the Lagos State Neighbourhood Watch, which are almost 7,000 men that have been trained, that have been energized and are working day to day in the state,” he said.
“There’s no need to reinvent the wheel.”