In Nigeria, commercial motorcycles are called Okadas.
Okada is the name of a village in the Edo state of Nigeria. Gabriel Egbinedion, one of Nigeria's first known millionaires and father of Lucky Egbinedion, a former governor of the state, comes from the village of Okada. In the 1980s his millions led him to establish the first national airline in Nigeria. It was known as Okada Airline.
Lagos, the old administrative capital of Nigeria, is known for traffic congestion. Lagos traffic congestion is one of the reasons why the federal government of Nigeria has decided to move the capital to Abuja to the heart of the nation.
Commercial motorcycles in Nigeria were born as a solution to finding a way to beat traffic congestion that often delayed people who wanted to get to their offices on time. The bikes actually solved the problem for those who engaged them. Arrive your destination on time. It was like traveling by crow like airlines do. It was like flying with the Okada airline.
Over the years, the convenience of traveling around town on these bicycles has ensured that the commercial motorbike journey will spread from Lagos to other parts of the country. Across the nation, the business is known by different names depending on the location. In central Nigeria, particularly in the state of Plateau, trade is called ongoing. While moving to the land of the Hausas, he discovers that trade is referred to as Achaba. The name Okada is however omnipresent and people are increasingly rejecting local jargon in favor of it.
