Godwin Haruna With Agency Reports
6 January 2009
Lagos — The enforcement of the January 1 deadline for the use of crash helmets by motorcycle riders and their passengers in the country is creating scenes and dramas around the country.
While some motorcycle riders in the Lagos area have resorted to the use of all sorts of items as crash helmets, passengers have expressed fears over possible transmission of diseases through the safety device.
Elsewhere in Ibadan, Oyo State, it also being alleged that the safety device was being used to cast spells on unsuspecting passengers with the intent of either robbing or kidnapping them.
Added to the hiccups crash helmets have thrown up is the complaint of motorcycle riders that crash helmets have become scarce commodities and even where available, passengers' reluctance in wearing them is another source of worry.
At the popular Ikeja Under Bridge yesterday, which is a terminus for the motorcycle operators, riders were seen pleading passionately with their passengers before they could move.
A passenger said he did not want to be infected with any disease wearing a helmet, which has been used several times by people in the hot Lagos sun.
His strategy, he said, is to just hold the safety device in his hands while looking out for enforcement marshals before he would put it on. Most users of this mode of transport have resorted to this practice on Lagos roads.
Another issue the riders have complained about bitterly is the scarcity of the crash helmets, which has led some of them to improvise.
Reports say motorcyclists in Nigeria have been wearing dried pumpkin shells on their heads and other industrial safety caps not meant for motorcycle riders.
According to a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) officials in Kano said they had stopped several people with "improvised helmets", following this month's introduction of the law.
Road safety officials said calabash-wearers would be prosecuted.
Calabashes are dried pumpkin shells more commonly used to carry liquid.
Kano Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) commander Yusuf Garba told the BBC they were taking a hard line with people found using the improvised helmets.
"We are impounding their bikes and want to take them to court so they can explain why they think wearing a calabash is good enough for their safety," he said.
In the city of Kaduna, drivers waved palm fronds and rode in convoy to protest at the price of helmets, which could cost up to N3000.00.
They said passengers often steal the helmets once they reach their destination.
Local government authorities often give motorbikes to jobless young men, saying it gives them a way to make a living.
Meanwhile, the scarcity of crash helmets in Lagos State has forced some commercial
motorcyclists to resort to hiring helmets from construction company employees.
An investigation by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) revealed that some motorcyclists were now hiring safety helmets from construction company workers.
A cross-section of the motorcyclists interviewed by NAN said that they were compelled to hire helmets from the construction workers owing to its scarcity in the market.
"I have gone to the market and the helmets are not available and I find the available few rather unaffordable. In order not to fall foul of the law, I had to seek an alternative.
"I was then introduced to an employee of a construction company, from whom I have been able to hire two helmets at N500 each daily," a motorcyclist, Monday Agabi, said.
Another Okada rider, Mr Pius Kennebi, told NAN that after staying off work for about three days because he had no helmet, he was told where he could rent one.
"I have a motorcycle but no helmet and I cannot afford one for about N6,000 now. I believe it is cheaper for me to hire them for now," Kennebi, a father of four, said.
Meanwhile, some commercial motorcyclists have complained that most of their passengers were unwilling to wear the helmets.
"I carried one woman who was wearing a headgear and she bluntly refused to wear the helmet but placed it on her lap until I was arrested by FRSC personnel who impounded my bike," Augustine Idahor said.
"I was made to pay a fine of N2,200 into FRSC's bank account before I could secure the release of my bike," he added.
The Surulere Unit Commander of the FRSC, Mr Gregg Drambi, told NAN that safety helmets used at construction sites were not acceptable to the commission.
Drambi said that 23 commercial motorcycles had been impounded by his unit since the enforcement of the regulation on helmet use started on January 1.
He, however, said that 19 of the impounded motorcycles had been released to their owners.
"Their owners were made to come with two new helmets, accompanied with their receipts of purchase. They also paid a fine of N2,000. If the bike stays more than a day with us, the owner is made to pay an extra N200," Drambi added.
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