Thousands of motorcycle (Okada) operators on the employment of Opay and Gokada transport services on Friday staged mass action in: Lagos, protesting the ban on motorcycle and tricycle operators effective from February 1, 2020, by the Lagos State Government.
The Okada operators in the employment of the leading investors in the e-hailing industry were agitating to save their jobs, demanding the Lagos State Government to review the ban because of the threat to loss of job.
The protesters commenced the mass action from Kudirat Abiola Way, Ikeja, from where they proceeded to the Lagos State Government House through the State Secretariat, Alusa.
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It was also obvious that the investments of the branded Okada operators, the companies, are at the risk of going down and giving them concerns of huge loss.
The protesters were displaying different banners and placards through which they sent their messages to the public and officials of the Lagos State Government who were their main target. Their messages read, “Regulate not ban”, “regulate us, not kill us”, “No helmet, no ride”, “over 200 trillion trips no fatality”.
The protesters contended that lack of employment opportunities compelled them to engage E-hailing riders. They maintained that the job remains the only thing available to them.
They rolled out Aluta solidarity songs.