As graduates embrace okada riding for survival

The transport business gradually gained acceptance and gathered momentum across the socio-economic fabrics of the country with both illiterate and educated young people finding it as a source of livelihood.Today, the business of commercial motorcycle popularly called ‘okada’ has metamorphosed into a big industry that caters for a large number of Nigerians with attendant positive […]

The transport business gradually gained acceptance and gathered momentum across the socio-economic fabrics of the country with both illiterate and educated young people finding it as a source of livelihood.
Today, the business of commercial motorcycle popularly called ‘okada’ has metamorphosed into a big industry that caters for a large number of Nigerians with attendant positive and negative results.
The positives include job creation, easy access to locations in areas where it is not banned and huge customer base due to affordability while the negative aspects include use of the motorcycles to commit crime, recklessness leading to accidents and general exposure to dangers and job insecurity in case of serious accidents.
However, being a readily available means of transportation and job creation, youths have embraced it as a means of livelihood. University graduates who have waited for jobs to no avail have also joined the okada business.
Some of these graduates enter into hire purchase agreements with motorcycle owners, paying weekly, fortnightly or monthly. As such, there is no rest of mind as one is not assured of job security in the prevailing hazards of the job.
A graduate who preferred to be called Malam Mu’azu in Karu-Abuja, told our reporter that he graduated from the University of Maiduguri but had no white collar job for the past five years. He said the okada business is risky but keeps him alive “until the will of Allah is done.”
Mu’azu who covers the Karu, Nyanya, Jikwoyi and Kurudu axis of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) noted that the business is not good for graduates who have certificates and can defend them lamenting that the embarrassment is too much from passengers, the police and other members of the public who have the notion that okada is for the illiterate and downtrodden in the society.
 “Let me tell you this, I don’t like this job but what will I do? I am gradually becoming a full-fledged okada rider with my certificates in the house.  This job has a lot of problems. I have problems with the police because they are fond of extorting money from us illegally and this is one of the challenges. I want the IGP to explain to us why the police who block the Karu-Mararaba road in the night around the Karu cemetery and abattoir must extort N50 from okada riders who are suffering,” he said.
He decried the situation where a graduate would not have a job and a policeman who has a government job with allowances would still extort money from them.   
Another okada rider, Timothy Atiirga who plies Aso-Mararaba-Nyanya road said he is a graduate of education who became an okada rider this year. Atiirga said the okada business does not boost one’s intellectual ability but rather it derails the research capabilities of the individual and should be seriously avoided.
He said the job does not command respect for graduates neither does it provide the necessary convenience and efficiency to operate. He lamented the rate of unemployment and absence of white collar jobs in the country, noting that in the absence of the desirable jobs, graduates fall back on whatever legitimate means of survival including okada riding.
 “Okada riding is not an ideal job for a graduate but we do it because of the present situation in the country. The government cannot create jobs for us. Many graduates have died on our roads in the process of this okada business but what can we do? I think it is better than being idle,” he said.
Responding to why many graduates are not interested in skills acquisition, small scale businesses or even further studies, Atiirga said that the initial capital for starting a business is a constraint stressing that further studies also requires money. He explained that a lot of masters degree holders in the various fields of study are also roaming the streets without jobs.

However, many have blamed the employment situation in the country on government inefficiencies and corruption.
The question of graduates engaging in okada riding for income as hideous as it is seems is better than not having something to do at all. A provisions shop owner in Keffi, Nasarawa State,  who said he was once an okada rider said that wise management of income from okada business is capable of catapulting operators to something better and enhancing their economic fortunes.
Nicholas Akpan said the worst thing that could happen to a graduate is suffering in the school, depleting one’s resources and energy and obtaining the certificates without jobs adding that unemployment is a threat to the lives of the people. He stressed that his journey to where he is now, started from okada with a minimum of N2,000 income on a daily basis which later earned him a savings of about N250,000 and prompted his decision to go into retail trading.
He advised graduates to endure whatever pains they may be going through in the course of hustling to survive in the face of daunting socio-economic challenges confronting the nation,  noting that careful spending and savings of income no matter how small has the tendency of gradually becoming a huge amount that would guarantee huge investment and put smiles on the faces of graduates.
Individual decision as to how and where to survive is now very crucial regarding the situation the country has found itself. Individual decision of exploring areas like okada riding, crop and livestock production, tailoring, blacksmithing, small scale business, carpentry, newspaper vendor among others is imperative and capable of producing positive results in the long-run.