Tame dispatch riders on Abuja roads now

Like most cities in the world with an expanding presence of corporate agencies, the need arises for clients to reach their customers with goods, products and services on demand. Most often these items are needed urgently by the client and this is where dispatch riders come in to provide the service. Driving through the streets of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city on any working day, one is likely to come across dispatch riders on their way to deliver parcels and messages from one end of the city to another.

Over the years, the use of dispatch riders has grown exponentially in Abuja, in reflection of the expanding logistics business in the federal capital city. Dispatch riders are employed by service agencies to deliver anything from mails, documents, equipment, materials, meals and other such products to a variety of clientele in the city. By the reckoning of most clients, dispatch services are convenient and have come to help ease business activities for corporate organisations and even individuals in Abuja, Lagos and other major cities in the country.

We laud the initiative as it has indeed aided businesses and created jobs for some of the teeming unemployed youths in the country. However, it has been observed that these dispatch riders, in the course of carrying out their duties, take unnecessary risks on the roads which most often result in fatalities to themselves and other road users. Nowadays, no day passes without reports of dispatch riders involved in one accident or the other in Abuja.

This untoward development has been attributed mainly to the mushrooming of dispatch services in view of the growing demand for their services. In the past when the bulk of dispatch services were handled by mail and document courier agencies, their dispatch riders operated under strict procedures. The dispatch riders were not only well kitted in identifiable company gears, they were also under obligation to observe safety and security guidance while going about their work. Above all, they were trained to observe and obey traffic regulations as that is where the bulk of their work is.

But the expansion of the dispatch services has brought with it a lowering of the standards under which riders have until now strictly operated. Many dispatch riders operate independently outside of the known courier service companies that have strict rules and procedures. Indeed, some of the riders actually hire the motorcycles they use in their operations from vendors under conditions which compel them to pay up at the end of the working day.  And in their bid to meet up with the demands of the service and to pay the vendors, these new dispatch service companies and riders cut corners and often operate without the necessary safety guidelines, including over-speeding and disregard to other traffic regulations.

In view of the growing excesses of dispatch riders in the city of Abuja, we believe it is time for the federal capital authorities to wade in and ensure that their activities are properly regulated. As it is at the moment, motorcycles are not allowed to ply the city centre, therefore, there must be a standard way of identifying these set of people. If they have not done so already, the authorities must also draw up a standard code of operations for dispatch service companies and ensure compliance. There should be proper registration and training of the riders on traffic rules and regulations as well as mandatory medical examination and certification of the riders before they are employed. And this should be periodic. The motorcycles they use for their operations must also be insured and their roadworthiness determined by vehicle inspection authorities before they are put to use. Going forward, the authorities should also consider marking out parts of the roads for dispatch riders to follow within the city so as to minimize traffic accidents. If dispatch riders and other motorcycle users have demarcated lanes on the major roads, as happens in several countries, it will reduce the frequency of accidents and fatalities involving dispatch risers that we now witness almost on a daily basis in Abuja.

It must be noted that like any growing modern city, Abuja faces many challenges in catering for the needs of its burgeoning residents. Dispatch riders while helping to ease the service demands of the numerous business outfits in the federal capital should, however, not be allowed to operate unchecked as currently obtains. Like all other services in the city, they must be brought under regulatory control by the relevant authorities. And the time to do that is now.