How Area Boys, Council Officials, Police Impoverish Tricycle Operators

HAVE you ever wondered why commercial tricycle operators, especially in Lagos, are sometimes quarrelsome, even to their passengers? It could be because they toil day and night with very little to show for their labour. For these, life is like the proverbial monkey dey work, baboon dey chop.

Keke NAPEP riders hit the roads everyday faced with daunting realities. Most of the three-wheelers run on hire purchase. This means the operators make daily or weekly ‘deliveries’ to the owners. Also, extortion by local council officials, policemen and miscreants (Area Boys) sap the riders of precious earnings. Pushed to the wall, they often vent their frustration on innocent passengers.

Doubtless, tricycles fill a huge gap in the nation’s transport sector. Popular in India and some Southeast Asian countries, three-wheelers as a mode of transportation were introduced to Nigeria by former military administrator of Lagos, General Buba Marwa. At the time, they were known as Keke Marwa. Later in 2001, during the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, the Federal Government introduced the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP), designed to replace the Poverty Alleviation Programme (PAP).

NAPEP as an agency was responsible for coordinating and overseeing various other institutions and developing guidelines for poverty reduction. Its goals included training of youths in vocational trades. The establishment of the agency paved way for the second coming of Keke (this time as Keke NAPEP). Through NAPEP, the first set of tricycles was given to unemployed youths nationwide.

Initially an all-male affair, women today have also joined in the Keke economy. The tricycles, meant to empower people, however, have become instruments of impoverishment where operators toil but other people smile to the banks.

“I don’t know why the government has kept quiet over this issue; we suffer everyday working with our tricycles. But at the end, you go home with nothing. I have a family to take care of. But as things stand, we are working for the Area Boys and the police; they are the ones taking all the money,” cried Uche, an operator on the Ijesha-Lawanson route.

“Take a look at these,” he said, pulling out pieces of tickets stashed in a corner of his windshield. “These tickets are just for today. There are three: one from Itire Ikate LDCA, one from Mushin Local Council and the third from the union. They wrote N100 on each, but to obtain them, we pay N1,600 everyday to the union! This is unfair,” said Uche, who has been in the business for four years.

Speaking on the plight of Keke operators in Lagos, a concerned citizen and pastor, Tony Olise, said: “A few of these riders are members of my church. Their complaints about payments to the union and local councils never cease to amaze me. “One rider told me they pay as much as N1,200 daily. I asked how much he makes per day and he answered, ‘Between N2,500 and N3000.’ I told him, ‘These people are taking too much money from you. If the union collects as much as N1000 and give of it to the council, then they don’t have a human face in their relationship.’

“I asked why they couldn’t stage a protest. The man said if anyone does, such is on his own. The union should be like an umbrella, protecting their interest, looking after their welfare. But that’s not the case. It’s like they are being strangulated. This is a far cry from what you call government; this is a huge amount of money going into the hands of union members.”

A new tricycle costs N400,000 – N450,000 (depending on brand). Under the hire-purchase system, an operator is expected to pay N2,500 daily or weekly. A driver uses the tricycles for a period and then takes possession after all remittances have been paid based on the terms of agreement with the owner.

Besides the cost of procuring the tricycle, investigation shows that a N25,000-N30,000 registration fee is paid to the chairman of the route while acquisition of a number plate costs about N20,000. To put the tricycle on the road, an operator must pay a daily sum of N1,600 to the union (cost varies from one area to another). The union in turn issues local council tickets of N100 and a union ticket of N100. The police allegedly collect N200 in the morning and another N200 in the evening, everyday. The cost of fueling the tricycle daily is about N1000. With payment of N2,500 to the owner, a rider parts with about N5,500 everyday.

On the average, an operator makes about N5000 daily. A subtraction of his daily N5,500 debt from the estimated income explains why the business can be a source of frustration. If there are 300 tricycles on a route and from which the union collects N42,000 per day, N294,000 per week and N1,176,000 per month; the police make N12,000 per day, N84,000 per week and N336,000 per month; the council pockets N3000 per day, N21,000 per week and N84,000 per month, one can only wonder who is being empowered – operators, council or union – when these figures are multiplied by the 12 months of a year!

“The worst part is that if you have a problem, the union will not even bother about you; they won’t help us. Even when you do not work or you are repairing your tricycle, they still force you to pay. At the end of the day, they make more money than we the operators,” said Segun, a Keke rider.

“Some of them have tricycles and they operate without paying anything to the union. Even police officers have their own Keke and they don’t pay. Look at the road we use; it is very bad. What are they doing with the money they collect from us?” asked another operator.

Regrettably, these operators are forced to suffer in silence than confront the ‘almighty union.’ Many refused to answer questions by The Guardian. And those who did spoke with hushed tones.

“What do you expect them to do? These people have no other jobs; you don’t expect them to fight the union. Journalists like you should make their plight known to the government,” suggested one passenger.

“I can’t answer these questions you are asking me. My job is to issue tickets and collect money; this is a union affair,” said one fee collector.

Effort to get council officials to react was unsuccessful. But one staff, who spoke under anonymity, said: “The council issues N100 ticket to the operators and that’s the only thing that comes to the government directly. Any other money charged goes to the union and the reason is not unconnected to their role during elections.”