Lagos To Launch New Mini Buses, To Phase Out ‘Okada’, ‘Marwa’

The Lagos State Government is set to launch new minibusses to take the place of commercial motorcycles and tricycles, popularly known as Okada and Keke Marwa.

This is part of the outcome of the Lagos State Government’s partnership with some private investors to set up an auto plant in the state where the minibusses will be manufactured.

The plan was disclosed by the State’s Commissioner of Transportation, Frederick Oladeinde during a webinar organised by the state on its plan for 2021 and attended by Nairametrics.

He said, “We got a private investor to set up a plant. They’ve started manufacturing some of the buses here. We have another investor that is coming and this government has invested in about 2,000 last mile buses and we are ramping it up to 5,000 in 2021.”

The commissioner added that the government is developing ‘the Last Mile,’ because commercial motorcyclists (popularly known as Okada) and tricycles (Keke Marwa) were not part of the state’s transport masterplan.

“The Last Mile will take the place of Okadas and tricycles, it will take you into the inner community and into the inner roads, and these are what we call the local government roads. So we are launching a set of buses in the next one month,” he added.

Why it matters

The mini buses are meant to take the place of commercial motorcycles and tricycles in the state and is determined to phase them out to curb crime in the state.