Crash helmets Nigerian-style: a tale of hygiene and black magicPerched on the back of a motorbike taxi, an elegant female passenger holds a red plastic construction helmet as far above her elaborate hairdo as her arm can reach. This is compliance - Nigerian style - with a new law making it compulsory to wear a crash helmet. Calabashes, aluminium buckets, cycling helmets, riding hats with metallic stripes painted on them -- commercial motorbike drivers and their passengers have resorted to all sorts of weird and wonderful headgear headgear, n the apparatus encircling the head or neck and providing attachment for an intraoral appliance in use of extraoral anchorage. headgear, radiologic, n a device that is used to protect the head from injury by radiation. since the new law took effect January 1. "Okadas", as motorbike taxis taxis (tăk`sĭs), movement of animals either toward or away from a stimulus, such as light (phototaxis), heat (thermotaxis), chemicals (chemotaxis), gravity (geotaxis), and touch (thigmotaxis). are known in this west African West Africa A region of western Africa between the Sahara Desert and the Gulf of Guinea. It was largely controlled by colonial powers until the 20th century. West African adj. & n. country, weave in and out of the huge traffic jams that have become the trademark of Lagos and Kano, the most populous pop·u·lous adj. Containing many people or inhabitants; having a large population. [Middle English, from Latin popul cities in Africa's most populous nation of 140 million people. Walking in Lagos is well-nigh impossible as the pavements are filled with okadas. The drivers, "okadamen", are reluctant to give way to larger vehicles, even if it is an articulated truck. Accordingly, as the number of okadas has risen in the past few years so has the number of serious accidents, explains Jonas Agwu, the Lagos sector commander with the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC FRSC Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada FRSC Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (formerly the Royal Institute of Chemistry) FRSC Federal Road Safety Commission (Nigeria) ). Okada drivers are obliged o·blige v. o·bliged, o·blig·ing, o·blig·es v.tr. 1. To constrain by physical, legal, social, or moral means. 2. to carry a helmet for the passenger but many passengers object to wearing them for hygienic hy·gien·ic adj. 1. Of or relating to hygiene. 2. Tending to promote or preserve health. 3. Sanitary. reasons. "Some people might have skin diseases; If I use a helmet I put a handkerchief handkerchief. In classical Greece pieces of fine perfumed cotton, known as mouth or perspiration cloths, were often used by the wealthy. From the 1st cent. B.C. under it," said Ajayi, a Lagos resident in his 50s. Others wear a shower cap or even a plastic carrier bag. Many female passengers are seriously concerned about their hairdos. They hold their handbag in one hand and the helmet in the other. In the event of a brush with the police they rest it on top of their braids. A possible issue for both sexes is black magic. "Some passengers are afraid of juju (black magic), that they will disappear if they wear the helmet," said Gabriel, 21, who has been an okada driver for the past year. "A lot of reasons are given by people for not complying," said the FRSC's Jonas Agwu, dismissing the juju argument. Okada drivers have been complaining about the cost of proper helmets going sky high, compared to their takings. An okada ride of a few kilometres in town goes for around one dollar, whereas in January a helmet was selling for around 9,000 nairas, or 60 dollars. Of late prices have now come down to less than 20 dollars. But the drivers who ignore the new rules have their bikes confiscated con·fis·cate tr.v. con·fis·cat·ed, con·fis·cat·ing, con·fis·cates 1. To seize (private property) for the public treasury. 2. To seize by or as if by authority. See Synonyms at appropriate. adj. and can only retrieve them if they pay a fine of 13 dollars, sign up to road safety awareness lessons and prove they are in possession of two proper helmets. In six weeks, 7,255 bikes have been seized in Lagos. The new tough stance seems to be paying off as most of the okadas in the economic capital are now on the right side of the law. In Kano, the northern commercial capital that is home to the largest fleet of motorbike taxis in the country -- an estimated two million of them -- it is a different story. Thousands of okadamen have staged demonstrations and attacked the local FRSC offices to protest the new law. For the moment the authorities say only about 40 percent of them have consented to wear a helmet. In the national orthopaedic hospital in Lagos, where okada accident victims are brought in every day, staff say the new law was long overdue OVERDUE. A bill, note, bond or other contract, for the payment of money at a particular day, when not paid upon the day, is overdue. 2. The indorsement of a note or bill overdue, is equivalent to drawing a new bill payable at sight. 2 Conn. 419; 18 Pick. . "These are serious injuries - multiple and open injuries," said Wahab Yinusa, the hospital's medical director. Head injuries can result in a hospital stay of between three and six months, and a bill of 1,000 dollars -- out of the reach of many patients. 
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