Makinde ‘s Reimagination, Remodeling And Reconstruction Of Ibadan City Bus-stops Has Thrown Pickpockets Out Of Business
The Oasis Reporters
January 12, 2025
When Governor Seyi Makinde invited then governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki to commission the reconstructed Bus-stops in Ibadan, many people guffawed. What was in a Bus-stop (interchanges) that would make a governor invite another governor to come and commission?
But Obaseki used to be an Ibadan boy, by reason of having studied at Nigeria’s premier University, the University of Ibadan that is easily known as UI.
And Obaseki knew that pickpockets were not only ubiquitous in Benin City, but equally rampant in Ibadan. And he must have known one or two persons who may have lost possessions at some of the Bus-stops in the city.
Yet no one wrote something thorough about the modus operandi of pickpockets or understood the conditions that facilitated their enterprise.
But Seyi Makinde, a University of Lagos (Unilag) trained Engineer understood the psychology of the pocket picking entrepreneurs.
Pickpockets thrived under chaotic conditions. And they were difficult to eradicate because some when caught would plead hunger and poverty.
As an engineer who graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Electrical Engineering in 1990 with further training in Industrial Control Services in Houston, Texas in 1998; and Development of Analytical Competence at Lagos Business School (now Pan African University) in 1999, Seyi Makinde competently analyzed what should be done.
After some more analysis of the methods employed by the nefarious operators at Bus-stops decided to eliminate the conditions that enabled them thrive.
Whenever a few buses are beckoning on passengers to board their buses in excited frenzies, there usually would be frantic attempts by them to push each other so as to outdo one another in a bid to bus.
Not all the passengers are genuine. Some thieves would be in that mix, picking pockets of distracted passengers while some would be ripping bags open to steal phones or money. Or just about anything.
So Makinde constructed not only friendly and welcoming Bus-stops, but made entrances and exits orderly. Buses and taxis equally queue to onboard (loading) passengers in an orderly fashion. Besides security personnel, there are transport union officials keeping an eye on proceedings.
People no longer fear for their possessions because movement is orderly.
Police reports are showing little or no incidences of theft at Bus-stops with the elimination of organized chaos that bred stealing.
This is one thing Makinde would be remembered for, for always, both in office and beyond.
Greg Abolo
gregabolo@gmail.com
