September 27, 2021
By Dadson A. Musa
‘Okada’, is the name for commercial motor bike in Sierra Leone. And this idea of commercial motor bike was derived from Nigeria. It came about just after the war as we watched Nigerian movies on Television. Seeing those Okada pick up and drop those passengers in those movies inspired our youths to take to okada riding as a trade.
Our roads in Bo city and across the district were in terrible shape then. Okada provided timely and easy access to destinations however remote. Okada traffic seems to dominate vehicular traffic.
Loading people and goods to those okada amazes us all a lot.
The lifetime of these Okada are cut short in the desperate search for money. Traffic officers are left to carry the blame for allowing these riders to overload the Okada. Some for collecting bribes which allows them passage even when they are in breach of the traffic law offences. Five people can be loaded on to these Okada that are meant for only two people. Goods like palm oil, charcoal, rice, etc. are loaded to unacceptable capacities.
Young men and very young ladies have taken to riding Okada as a quick means of employment without undergoing the rigors of writing application letters and going for interviews.
And okada riding is paying off well. Boys and girls of school going age and even university graduates are making a living out of okada riding. The industry seems to have grown in Bo that a union has been formed to monitor and regulate their activities. Accidents which can be fatal sometimes have turned some people off the trade. But even as people are dying or sustaining life-threatening injuries okada trade has remained attractive in Bo. It is at the moment generating millions of Leones for its members and the unions put together according to statistics.
This means of transportation takes you to your destination even when it is not motor able and hard-to-reach. Corporate institutions, NGOs, and politicians are relying on them to help get vital messages across to the wider populace. And they are proving reliable and effective in that.
Bo city has come abuzz due to Okada transportation. The riders are sometimes targeted by criminals and on the other hand they are used by them. This has made their trade risky and dangerous at times. Love them or hate them Okada trade has proved to be a necessary evil in Bo. It is the reason the number one importer of Okada into Sierra Leone, Shalimar Trading whose Managing Director and Chairman, Moussa Mroue has not given up on the trade and plans to expand it further nationwide.