In Agbor, where Okada rules.

As i am typing this, i am actually in a street shop, beside the garage market. I went out today to finish the payment of books i recently purchased in market  yesterday. I  discovered that the shop that i bought one okirika handbag recently also sells book. These Agbor shrewd businesswomen sef, Kiro? Wetin sef? One shop sells bags, shoes, then foreign books, haaa!

The sun is out. The little distance i have walked after i left the shop  left me hunting for a shadow. One thing constant apart from the sun in this part of the world is Okada. They are the kings and pests of the roads, depending how you see them.

Their noise bring fun to street and makes the ear run for quietness - if you are my kind of person.

As a visitor,  visiting  from Warri or passing through the highway leading to Benin, you will notice that Agbor town somehow runs like a valley - up and slightly down, this nature landscape is more pronounced when you enter the growing city from inner routes connecting Agbor and Ndokwa area of the state. The first thing your sight behold is the slide topography of Orogodo river bridge connecting  Owa Ekei, Boji-boji owa, Azu Agbor and the college area.

Agbor is one of the populous places within Delta. I am still contemplating if it can be called a city, but with its rate of growth yearly, based on my observation around, there won't be a doubt that it will called so without any contemplation soon.

Like Agbor, like Warri or Sapele, the means of transportation for nagivating through the streets and crescents of this town are majorly  Okada (bikes), and Yellow painted tricycles (keke) - for longer journeys inside the villages. Buses are only used for faraway journeys to Onitsha, Asaba, Benin.  One of the reasons given by the locals for none existence of taxis is due to bad roads. A tour through the streets of the town gives credit to their reason, though, some streets like Ajuebor, Convent, Efeizomor, and so on can be exempted. Another reason i felt is this, generally, patience is a virtue for Nigerians. We are always in a hurry, trying to beat traffic to meet up with our daily demands, and in this growing town, i don't see the possibility of people queueing up for a bus or taxi, that may take forever to finish "loading" or patiently trying to rigmarole through the haphazard queues of taxis and buses,  when they can easily flag down a nearby okada that will gladly convey them in a hurry and beat traffic rules, as they wish. Finally, in many capitals of many Nigerian states' capitals, including Asaba, okada has been banned, thus the men of bikes find solace in growing and populated towns like Agbor to test their driving prowess and eke out living, as well as show dominance of roads.

Until recently (this one i went there), i saw that the old Lagos-Asaba road was being dualized currently. This is the most important road within Agbor town. There is no need of going through memory lane of how many times the this dualization was awarded.

I guess i just gave a background to the reasons behind the reign of Okadas. See Agbor's okadas are not just special, but they are aware that they are needed in a special ways. Every teenager's dream begins with riding a bike, gradually as they get older, it grows to owning it and probably, finally, turning it to a commercial business with him either riding or someone riding for him.
Having okada in your name seems to make you  'arrive' small in the eyes of your peers.
Sundays, one can see the younger and older adults cruising around on their shiny steels with two handles, honking to every friends' compound, that they're now one step ahead, and the friends too hailing them that they are now 'arriving' gradually. The reward for this is a sunday of hangouts, alcohols, partying and eating, depending on the pocket of the arriver.

Women too are not left out in the frenzy of the okada fever. Few times i walked with my younger brother on the road - he just wrote his SSCE - i noticed that the girls that hailed him majorly were on bikes, i was prompted to ask him who they were, and he replied, "former classmates".

Again, the easiest way of making money is through doing Okada transporting business. Everywhere one goes, they are littered on the streets, waiting for a signal from a passerby. On average, 20 okadamen can hail a pedestrian within a short distance.

The attitudes of some of them can also be interesting. Feel free to correct me; but i noticed that there are sometimes the HONKING competition. I have heard different types of horns with okadas here, just like elsewherS. There is one that jingles, like christmas light that sings, some sounds like the horns of big 911s and trailers used in transporting fuel, ones that goes like a police alarm and others that sound normal. For example:
A day came when i was trekking with beads of perspiration merging with my clothes, allowing the fabric clung with my body, in my haste to reach my destination, i heard honking behind, i quickly shifted to the farthest edge of the road,  making way for an assumed heavy duty truck to pass, it took me some seconds to realize that it was a two-wheeled with a rider that made the noise.

Riding in kingly manner.

Yea.. they own the road. They know it. And they rub it to your face. From the private to the commercial, they drive, criss-cross, maneuver their way without little consideration to other users of the road. They fire through junctions, turn to bends without honking - though i have seen exception too. They flaunt through the traffics - thankgod for the men on uniform and their fellow agberos. They don't even know if it is the middle of the night when pressing their horns. At traffics, the always at the front. Patiently waiting to take the lead.

Ways of getting passenger and ironies.

See, okadas here are funny. They address  you and honk according to the way you appear. Okay, i dressed cute and i decides to walk to my destination. Now, i expect the normal okada to probably ride past me or at least honk to me once then look forward - just to register his presence. The first one comes around, honks as much as he loves - just for attention - tries to stop, then i straighten my face more just to prove a point, now, depending on the sensitivity of the guy on the okada, he may get the message or still tries to do more resilience, he now voices it out, "baby, you dey go?", my mood determines whether the question will be answered. 
The first one goes, empty. Now, the second comes, i believe he kinda witnessed the drama of the first one, he still goes ahead and performs almost the same thing.

You see the irony, the day i will actually need them so badly, they go into thin air. I can't find the herd of them again.

Unity.

One thing you can't take away from the public okadas is unity. They are ready to fight another road user that that is in conflict with an okadaman. Yea, they are united like that.  They also united in price range.

But despite this, i still love their theatrics and sometimes their noise. You can't help but love them. They save many from the transport uncomforts too.

N.B: the article above is just my observations.