Lagos reads riot act to Okada riders, others.

Lagos State government on Thursday read the riot act to commercial motorcyclists, popularly called okada riders, following repeated clashes between them and the State Taskforce officials, declaring that the game is over as restriction of okada on certain routes in the state is still in force.

The State Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, made this known during a press conference at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa Ikeja, insisting that failure with the law would attract sanctions as stipulated in the Transport Sector Reform Law (TSRL) 2018.

The event was attended by members of the National Union of Road Transport Association Workers (NURTW), Road Transport Employers Association (RTEAN), Motorcycle Operators Association Lagos State (MOALS) and Nagari Nakowa Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association of Lagos (NNMORA).

“I say the game is over because, in the last few months, we have witnessed a lot of security and safety challenges apparently as a result of the activities of unscrupulous ‘okada riders who do not only violate the provisions of the Transport Sector Reform Law of Lagos State, 2018 with respect to restriction to areas of operations but perpetrate crimes using their motorcycles,” the commissioner said.

Oladeinde expressed displeasure over the flagrant violation of the TSRL 2018, explaining that the state governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, was poised at ensuring better traffic flow, adding that it was disheartening for people to go against the law.

The commissioner, while reiterating that the restriction of okada on certain routes in the state still remains in force, warned that “any motorist caught against traffic would pay the maximum penalty, which is to have their vehicles impounded, and forfeited in line with TSRL 2018, while the drivers will be equally charged to the court of law.”

Oladeinde said the state government was resolved to intensify its enforcement strategy, following the upsurge in the number of commercial motorcycle operators in Lagos, disclosing that a joint enforcement team would be set up to ensure the roads were sanitised from the menace of Okada riders.

He said the state government had directed that all the law enforcement agencies including the police, FRSC, LASTMA and VIS officials to immediately and continuously embark on enforcement on all the restricted routes in Lagos.

“We hereby direct all the law enforcement agencies, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS), Task Force and the Nigeria Police to immediately and continuously embark on enforcement of all restricted routes,” he said.

“In line with this administration’s plan to build Lagos that works for all, we are determined to continue to engage with the various transport unions and associations of tricycles and okada operators to ensure their members cooperate with us in the process of ensuring public safety by abiding with the TSRL 2018 at all time,” he added.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Hon. Oluwatoyin Fayinka also warned the transporters to desist from violating the State traffic law, even as he said he would not be happy seeing their businesses disrupted but were mandatory for everyone to obey the rules.

“I will not be happy seeing your businesses disrupted but it is mandatory for every one of us to obey the rules.

“You have been mandated to obey the law, the law is blind and does not know the maker, it does not know the enforcer. We want all to obey the law,” he said.

Fayayinka, while lamenting that attitude of the bad ones amongst them had given the state, which is regarded as the commercial nerve centre of the country, a poor image abroad, charged them to fish out those elements amongst them.

“NURTW and RTEAN, that is why you must go back to your people and talk to them. I beg of you, let’s play the game according to rule. Please I beg of you I don’t want your business to be disrupted, and Mr Governor doesn’t want your okadas impounded,” he said.

“Police are not happy arresting you so far you do your business in accordance to the law,” he added.

General Manager Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Mr Olajide Oduyoye wondered why the leadership of the union usually look decent and cooperative but same cannot be said of their members.

Oduyoye charged the leadership to talk sense to their members to comply to the law as regards the traffic, saying if the leaders truly worked to ensure for sanity on the roads, the security agencies would have little or nothing to be bothered about.

“There is absolutely nothing new in what we have been talking about here that we have not spoken about in past conferences.

“You are the ones on the roads, can you not enforce the law? You can make the state work. If you don’t free the road, you can’t make your money, going and coming. If you want the road to be free, you can do it,” he said.

The Sector Commander of Federal Road Service Commission (FRSC), Segun Ogungbemile, while noting that majority of the okada riders were not members of the registered unions in the state, pleaded that NURTW and RTEAN should collaborate with all the law enforcement agencies to enforce the traffic laws in Lagos.

“They know we are incapacitated but when they see you with us, they will know we are one, that’s what I am soliciting for,” he said.

The State Police Commissioner, who was represented by SP Ozoani Damsus, noted that okada riders in the state had gone far more than could be accepted, warning that violators of traffic law would not escape facing the music.

“The okada riders have gone far more than we can accept. Any okada man that violates the law, we will not accept that anymore.

“The commissioner of police has said that we must accept the rule. We are fully back, we are not going to tolerate the act of indiscipline. I don’t want to repeat what my colleagues have said, a word is enough for the wise.

A representative of the Lagos State Task Force, Supol Ogar, said the agency was resolved in enforcing the state traffic laws banning okada on restricted routes in Lagos.

The Nigeria Police on Thursday arrested one Onwuka Emmanuel Chidiebere, a graduate of Business Administration from Imo State University who specialises in business email compromise and hacking.

Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, in a statement on Thursday, said a comprehensive forensic analysis revealed that the suspect had over 50,000 email accounts and websites including passwords of various individuals and corporate entities across the world on his laptop.

Chidiebere, a.k.a Ceeceeboss TMT, 32, was one of three suspects arrested by the Nigeria Police Cybercrime Unit, INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB), Abuja.

The other two are Ikechukwu Ohanedozie a.k.a Dozzy, 34, and Onuegwu Ifeanyi a.k.a SSGToolz, 35.

The three suspects, all males, were arrested following an intelligence report received from the INTERPOL Cybercrime Directorate in Singapore on global attacks by Nigerian cyber gangs who engage in mass email phishing campaigns and distribution of malwares aimed at stealing authentication data from browsers and email header, Mba said.

He said Chidiebere recruited Ikechukwu Ohanedozie, a medical student of Imo State University, to profile e-mail accounts to determine the financial strengths of prospective victims.

The police said the third suspect, Onuegwu Ifeanyi, specialized in creating, designing, selling of phishing links and hosting malwares on website used by the gang for phishing and hacking purposes.

“He collects charges running into several millions of naira from other fraudsters he mentors and improves their phishing capabilities,” Mba said.

He disclosed that the Nigeria Police has unveiled a Cybercrime Reporting Web Portal.

The portal which can be accessed by clicking on the link https://incb.police.gov.ng/ is part of efforts directed at ensuring ease of crime reportage by members of the public to enable prompt investigation, arrest and prosecution of perpetrators of cybercrime and other related offences.

“The portal caters for complaints pertaining to cybercrimes. With this, victims/complainants can now report cases of cybercrime online, at any time and from any part of the world. The cases are promptly attended to by the Cybercrime Unit of the Force domiciled with the INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB), Force Headquarters, Abuja and the newly created Cybercrime Unit at the INTERPOL Annex, Alagbon Close, Ikoyi, Lagos.

“The new portal will provide updates on achievements being recorded by the Nigeria Police and will, among other things, avail the citizens’ knowledge of basic cyber-related issues such as emerging cybercrime trends, the modus operandi of the cyber crooks and offer tips on how citizens could make themselves less vulnerable within the cyberspace.

“The Force urges potential users of the portal to ensure that only correct and accurate information, devoid of deliberate falsehood, misrepresentation and misinformation, are provided when filing their complaints,” the statement read.

Mba said all the suspects will be charged to court at the conclusion of the investigation and prosecuted in line with the Cybercrime Prevention/Prohibition Act, 2015.

“Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police, IGP M. A Adamu, NPM mni reaffirms the commitment of the Nigeria Police Force in protecting cyberspace and bringing all cybercriminals to book. He reassures confidentiality of all reports and complaints made to the Police through the cyber portal,” the police spokesman said.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, has expressed regrets that with the action of the Federal Government that Universities would not resume again this year.

ASUU also stated that FG was playing with future of Nigeria students, adding that the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System, IPPIS, cannot curb corruption in the university system as claimed by the government.

This was contained in a statement signed by Comrade Uzo Onyebinama, Zonal Coordinator, ASUU, Port Harcourt zone, Comrade Emmanuel Akpan, Chairperson, Federal University Otuoke (FUO) Comrade Endurance Joseph, Chairperson, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Comrade Tonbara Kingdom, Chairperson, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island and Comrade Austen Sado, Chairperson, University of Port Harcourt.

Speaking for the zone in Port Harcourt, the zonal coordinator, Onyebinama, sad with the attitude of the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, that universities would not be able to resume again in 2020.

The union coordinator said it was painful that universities have lost two academic sessions, explaining that students admitted in this academic season were yet to take their first semester examinations.

He noted that the new set of students were already waiting to be admitted, adding that when school resumed it would be difficult to manage the situation.

He said: “His (Ngige) recent comments on Channels TV is a signal that Universities cannot reopen this 2020 and this government gambling with the future of Nigerian Youths.

“The handwriting has always been on the wall about the reluctance of this government to take necessary steps to ensure that our universities reopen this year.”

He stated that the IPPIS cannot stop corruption in the universities, stating that only Visitation Panels could do so.

Onyebinama said: “IPPIS is not the legal instrument for solving the problem of monumental fraud perpetrated by some administrators of the universities.

“IPPIS taxes rent subsidy, allowances for journals, conferences, hazard etc., as such and for instance, an Associate Professor at the bar pays a tax of about 672 thousand naira per annum.

“IPPIS breaches the due process for enrolment in the national housing scheme. IPPIS deducts pensions from the allowances earlier listed. IPPIS breaches university autonomy. IPPIS breaches the law.

“The legal instrument to probe corruption in the universities is the Visitation Panels. For almost a decade, ASUU has been clamouring for the constitution of visitation panels to federal universities.

“We are told that they are at the point of gazetting the panels for several weeks now. May they will need like another five years to do the gazetting.

He, however, advised the FG to work their talk by showing zero tolerance for corruption, even as he decried the proliferation of universities by state governors who could not sustain existing ones.

He said: “State governments are proliferating universities without adequate funding for already established ones. Most Vice -Chancellors of state universities are at the beck and call of their visitors, unable to take any decision without recourse to their visitors.”

“This struggle is not just for ASUU members. It belongs to the Nigerian people, the masses of this country. We are already down and he that is down has no reason to fear a fall. Let us all stand up for our public universities