Tricycles known as ‘keke’ in local parlance, was first introduced in to Nigeria in the late 1990s by the then military administrator of Lagos State, Colonel Buba Marwa (now a retired General) under the military dictator, General Sani Abacha.
Prior to this time, the common means of public transportation was the use of taxi cabs with commercial buses joining as the population increased.
It was then named after Marwa for introducing it and called ‘keke Marwa’ until the name was changed to ‘keke Napep’ during the time of President Olusegun Obasanjo when the National Agency for Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) under the headship of Dr. Magnus Kpakol imported large quantity of tricycles for the teeming unemployed able – bodied youths as a poverty eradication scheme.
Ever since, tricycles have continued to gain acceptance in parts of the country as means of affordable and fast transportation although not without its myriad of challenges.
When the Delta State Government in November 2012, announced the ban on commercial motorcycles otherwise known as ‘okada’ in major towns and cities in the state, it was mixed feelings for the people especially for those resident in the affected areas.
While many hailed the courage of the then Delta State Government led by Dr. Emmanuel Ewetan Uduaghan for the ban because of the menace and accidents resulting from the recklessness of motor bike(okada ) the use of ‘okada’ for armed robbery and other crimes, others criticized the ban saying, it was a clear demonstration of the government’s insensitivity to the plight of the common man as according to this school of thought, the ban was going to culminate in increase in crime rate as many able bodied men who hitherto were using okada to eke a living , would be rendered jobless and possibly take to crime to make ends meet thereby the increase in crime rate which the government gave as one of the reasons for the ban will not be addressed after all.
The government had as part of the programmes to cushion the effect of the ban on the citizen , announced the introduction of tricycle otherwise known as ‘keke’ to replace the motorcycles as well as intra cities and the Marcoplo buses.
The good, the bad and the ugly sides of the use of tricycle is what this report by BETTY IDIALU, seeks to x-ray using Ubeji and Jeddo communities as case studies.
While it is undoubtedly true that the number of accident victims in hospitals especially in the orthopaedic and accident wards has reduced it is not yet uhuru as the tricycles have also come with their own nagging challenges.
For motorists driving through Warri and its environs, it is almost a nightmare as they have to exercise extra caution because of the way the tricycles meander in between vehicles with reckless abandon, oblivious of the danger their actions pose on them, their passengers, pedestrians as well as other motorists.
It is common to see tricycles criss-crossing in major roads in front of all manner of vehicles whether heavy duty trucks or light fleet cars, because to them, every space no matter how tiny it is, must be utilised.
While the hospitals’ accident and emergency wards are experiencing a decline in admission of accident victims(which was a major cause of most accidents) and considerable reduction in crime rate, those involved in welding and fabrication are smiling to banks courtesy of the high patronage they now get from tricycles owners . (different strokes for different folks one may say) .
This is because over 70% of the tricycles in Warri and environs have devise a means of ‘fortifying’ their tricycles by improvising a fabricated barricades and welding it behind their tricycles in order to ‘fortify’ them and reduce the effect of damage when hit from the rear or sides. These extra bombers or barricades also serves as their boots for conveying goods.
The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Delta State, sometime last year warned the keke riders to remove these ‘barricades’.
But that warning fell on ‘deaf ears’ thereby forcing men of the Delta State FRSC to go out against keke riders with axes and hammers , and forcefully removing the iron ‘barricades’ from the tricycles.
Apart from that, the FRSC also contends with the overloading by the tricycle riders who instead of having just three passengers at the back and the driver at front, the rider carries as much as five passengers .This they do by placing stools at both ends of the front row in the keke; thereby making proper control of the tricycle a herculean task as the rider is sandwiched in between the passengers.
Mr. Dickson Amromawhe, Delta State coordinator (Special Marshal and Partnership)of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), who decried the non-challant attitude of tricycles operators towards road safety rules, said,
” We are making efforts and will continue to make more efforts. That is why we are on the radio and television always.”
“Enforcement in Warri is generally poor, this is because we have few men on the ground. The level of nuisance in Warri is quite worrisome, what you see in Warri, you can’t see that in Port Harcourt or even our closest neighbour, Benin.”
“It is illegal to have those extension and iron bars all in the name of protecting the keke, whenever we meet them, we have saws and axes, we remove them, just that the number of keke in Warri is probably the highest Nigeria. ..The number is quite high. ”
“You pull it out today, the next day, they go and weld it back. Of course we have few people on ground here. Whenever, they know that we are having patrol, they will move to the areas we are not covering at that point in time. Except we have joint patrols in three or four locations running simultaneously, then it will be difficult for them to escape. The only alternative they have is to park at home. ”
OVERLOADING
This also is a major traffic violation by tricycles operators.
Delta State Coordinator of FRSC , Dickson Amromawhe, said “overloading is an offence. When we meet them, we usually discharge their goods , book and issue them tickets before impounding the tricycle to the command office or nearest police station. ”
“The extra seats they have is another nagging issue. There was an accident involving a keke with extra seats – one passenger on the right and the other on the left. The rider was sandwiched in between the passengers and was unable to maneuver. In the process, the keke somersaulted and because there is no safety gadgets in keke like cars, they all flew out of the tricycle and hit their heads on the tar on the road and four persons died . So,we normally pull them off. You will see a lot of those seats at our command office.”
Peter O. (not real names) a graduate of Business Management turned a tricycle operator , speaking flawlessly in English, said, he ventured into the business of riding tricycle because of lack of job.
“We do it (overloading) in order to maximise profit. You have to calculate very well to be able to meet payment deadline. You know most of us you see riding keke, it is on balance and carry (Hire Purchase) , if you default, the owner would take it back, because it was part of the agreement ( bond ) you signed.
So putting extra seat will give you more money.”
Continuing , Peter said,” You know that there is no job these days, so you guide any legitimate job you have jealously . So, if you do not want the owner to take the keke from you, you do everything humanly possible to meet up with the payments. ”
TRAINING
Dickson Amromawhe said, “most of the keke riders are not trained. They just metamorphosed from okada riders to keke riders. Riding keke and riding okada are two different things entirely. The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC ) in our usual tradition, is planning a training programme around mid-December at both the Warri Park and Effurun park because of the high population of keke in those areas.”
According to Amromawhe, the riders are more interested in the rice and the drinks they would get rather than the training.
“The first thing they ask you when you are telling them about training is “wetin una wan give us (what do you have for us)? Instead of them paying for the training which is even free anyway, they want you to pay them for training them..you see the mentality of our people?
“They even believe that the time they would spend getting trained, is wasted because, they believe they should be on the road and make more money. When they manage to come, they are psychologically absent but we still do our best.”
SYNERGY AMONG FRSC, V.I.O, POLICE AND KEKE UNIONS.
Mr . Amromawhe called on other relevant stakeholders to join hands with the FRSC to ensure that road safety rules are enforced to the letter.He urged them to forget about gratification which is a major cause of division among them adding that FRSC abhors gratification in whatever form.
“Some other agencies can be involved, but none of our members are involved at all.” He said.
He also decried the factionalisation of the tricycles operators union which is another problem but said they were trying to see how they can work with all of them.
When the tricycles were introduced, the State Government made it mandatory for the owners to paint them with the Delta State official colours of blue and white.
As a result of the recklessness of keke riders, which is even worse with an Hausa rider (aboki), because of the inability of majority of them to understand the English language , it is very common to see vehicles bombers and sides in Warri and environs dented with blue scratches from the tricycles.. Their own tricycles are not spared also. This has led to increase in rickety tricycles on the road,.
GETTING RID OF RICKETY TRICYLES
Mr. Nido Friday, Zonal Engineer, in the Effurun Zone of the Ministry of Transport, Vehicles Inspection Department said, “We usually inspect the Vehicles and that include tricycles to ascertain their road worthiness.”
“When my men , the Vehicle Inspection Officer ( V. I.O) see the ones that have broken windscreen, side mirrors or warning lights, we advise them to get them replaced. After three consecutive warnings, we impound them. For the very bad one, we put them off road.”
REGULATING THE ACTIVITIES OF TRICYLES.
There has been reported cases of hit and run keke riders , because lot of them are not duly registered, this makes monitoring their activities cumbersome . Some attributed this division among riders leading to polarisation of the union.
Anthony Erakpowheri, Secretary of the Delta State Commercial Motor cycles and Tricycles Operators/Union of Nigeria, Uvwie Branch said the union is doing her best to monitor the activities of these tricycles operators by ensuring that they are duly registered with the union .
He said, “You may be aware that we are consultants to the State Government because of our track records. But we have a major challenge because some group of persons are trying to form a parallel body .The government has said repeatedly that it is only our union that is recognized in the state . Most of the keke you see are supposed to be duly registered under my Union. We have 45 units in Uvwie with 45 units head, this is to ensure effective monitoring, each member of our union has a code.The people using keke for robbery and other crimes, are not from our union because they know we have their information , so this restrains them from getting involved in crime. .”
On the multi levies collected by the union he said” It was #250 before but the government is trying to increase IGR , so we have have to comply . Out of #300 daily collection, #150 goes to the government. We now have to reduce our levy by #100 , I think that was considerate.”
ECONOMIC GAINS
Tricycles operators no doubt, have contributed a lot to the growth of the economy.Alot of able bodied men and youths are now gainfully engaged , contributing their quota to the Internally Generate Revenue (IGR) through the levies they are made to pay.
Deji (not real names) tricycle operator, who said he finds the business lucrative, however frowned at the multiple levies they are made to pay.This he termed “undue exploitation ” He said ,”everday we pay #300(three hundred Naira )for tickets, every year, we pay #3,500 (three thousand five hundred Naira) for ID card and stickers and you know we must buy fuel and maintain the tricycles, so all these levies are telling on us.”
NOT BUSINESS AS USUAL
Ike Okonji( not real names) , another tricycle operator said the business is no longer as lucrative as it was when it was first introduced. “Before if you set out from 6 am and close by 7pm, you can make like N20,000 in a day. But now the number of keke has increased so, you can get 5,000 daily depending on your hustling”
PATRONAGE FROM WOMEN PLUS DANGERS
Women due to their enterprising nature, most times patronise tricycles in transporting their goods from the market. It is usually common to see overloaded tricycles with women ferrying their wares to and fro major markets in the state.
A trader, Mrs. Onyin said, ‘I prefer using keke, because it is cheaper than taxi, I can pay keke N700 to my house because of the bad road, but taxi will not collect N1000.”
Another woman – Mrs. Efe said, ” I use keke a lot, because we have just one car, when my husband is out of town, I use keke to take my children to and fro school,. It is cheaper and faster. Although my children usually complain when its raining because the protection against rain is often times just a tattered trampoline draped from the top side of the keke. My children complain of the smoke from vehicles that emit smoke when we are riding in keke, because the keke is exposed. It is not like when you are in a car, you can wind up the glass, but inside keke, that is not possible . If Government can provide more school buses , that would go a long way, these ones are not just enough at all.”.
Mrs. Nneamaka Chidi, a mother of three said” my husband works in Onitsha, and I am alone with the kids most times, keke is a very big relief for me because, how do I move about with three children? I had to employ the services of a keke rider that takes me to and fro school. I pay every month. I pay him N10,000 (Ten Thousand Naira).I am lucky because he has been very consistent. Some of them are not reliable. But you have to do a thorough investigation to be sure of the person, know his house, family and all because of security”.
“Two years ago, there was the case of a mother of three, (Two boys and a girl) who lost all her children to an Hausa keke rider whom she had hired to convey her children to and from school. The Hausa keke rider after he was apprehended and interrogated by the police, confessed that, he sold three children to an Alhaji at #30,000 for money rituals . However, it was too late as the children were already killed before the police got to the ritualist’s den . So one must be very careful “. She said.
GOVERNMENT NOT DOING ENOUGH.
Some residents, also blame the popularity of keke as means of transportation on deplorable state of roads. Mrs. Elohor Ogbe, (not real names) speaking in pidgin English, has this to say.
“You know the nature of our roads na….the roads dem bad. Na only keke go fit reach my house. As I dey come from market with this plenty load so, motor nor go gree enter ‘portor portor’ (thick mud water). Enhen… make una tell govment to do better roads and gutter (drainage).
AFFORDABILITY
Some resident are of the opinion that keke is cheaper and faster, than vehicle but advised the riders to be more careful adding that due to its light weight is prone to accident because it cannot withstand heavy wind , especially from heavy duty trucks.Thery are also advocating for training of the riders.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
Most of these tricycles emit the noxious carbon monoxide in to the atmosphere while in motion.
On a daily basis motorists, other road users as well as street hawkers are left at the mercy of the tricycles operators whose activities constantly lead to air pollution.
The fumes emitted from the engines of the tricycles are believed to be the major culprit for the poor quality of air.
Apart from air pollution, tricycles activities have continued to be a major cause of environmental pollution. Warri and environs because of the terrain, is surrounded by a lot of water bodies.
These water bodies which a lot of people depend on for their daily uses, are constantly polluted.
The way and manner the tricycles repairers carry out maintenance, leaves little to be desired. Used engine oil, fuel, grease and other petroleum products are constantly released indiscriminately into the environment.
These harmful substances find their way into the water bodies thereby causing a lot of harm to aquatic lives and makes the water unfit for human use.
Blessing Okogho an environmental health officer in Warri South Local Government Area who decried the rate of environmental pollution because of the destruction of the beauty and aesthetics of the environment, said, “what we do as environmental health officers, we go to the mechanic workshops,we try to health educate them first.
“At times, these people are very stubborn, they don’t want to comply and we issue them what we call, abatement notice ( usually 14-21 days) followed by a remind notice, failure to comply will lead us to issuing them court summons for them to abate this nuisance, because it is not a structural nuisance. ”
“The impact of these mechanic waste destroy the beauty of the environment, it causes pollution of the soil, air and water because of the carbon monoxide the parts emit.”
“Another major thing that it causes and it is our concern as environmental health officers is the fact that it blocks the drainage, thereby leading to erosion. During this raining season, if you were in Warri, you will see erosion everywhere.what they do, at the end of the day, they just pour and leave their waste on the floor, or the drainage and before you know, these drainages are blocked, leading to erosion”
Attributing these activities of mechanics to ignorance, Okogho said, most of them don’t even know the impact on the environment. ”
We breathe in oxygen everyday , natural oxygen is supposed to be about 21% nitrogen, 0.001% carbon monoxide. If you check the air around us, the carbon monoxide is far more than that., and it causes serious health problems to our system.
“Another thing is that, it destroys aquatic lives and causes stunted growth of crops, the leaves of plants are not as greenish as expected”.
But Anthony Ebisike, chairman of the Unity Spare Parts Market, on 31 Effurun/Sapele Road a major hub of tricycles spare parts and maintainance , who blamed the environmental degradation on the local government authorities said,
“We are suffering too much in this place. Everytime, the Uvwie Local Council people come to collect money . They collect all manner of levies, they collect levy for illegal structures, caravans, air pollution, tenement, sanitation and all what have you, yet they don’t come to clean the place. They are disturbing us too much. It is because it has not rained for days now, if it rains, you can’t even come inside this place, it is very bad.”
” They said the will be coming every Saturday to park up refuse, at times they come once or twice in a month. They do not come as agreed, but who do we cry to? ”
“As a body, we have used our money to do some maintenance here. We have sand filled the place with sharp sand and put hard core, (waste from Delta Glass Company) yet it is still like this. The council is not doing anything. ”
HEALTH IMPLICATION OF THE POLLUTION CAUSED BY KEKE.
According to Dr. Funke Opajobi, lecturer in the faculty of medicine, Delta State University, Abraka, Delta State ,the fume from keke can lead to lung problems because , carbon monoxide binds more and stays longer than oxygen.
She said ,” it can also lead to bone problems .When the bone marrow does not get enough oxygen to produce red blood cells, it becomes very serious health problems”.
Another medical doctor, Dr. Efe of the General Hospital, Ekpan said , continuous inhalation of the fumes spewed from tricycles can lead to serious health conditions.
“The gas do not burn well, they produce carbon monoxide which is poisonous to health because of the fact that it gets easily inhaled and it binds specifically to haemoglobin which cries oxygen to different parts of the body…, the brain, the lungs, liver, kidneys etc.”
“But when you have carbon monoxide around, it will displace the oxygen. So, instead of haemoglobin to carry oxygen, it will now be carrying carbon monoxide which is not useful and that can damage the tissues in the body.”
“So, regular servicing of vehicles with the right oil is advised so as to reduce carbon monoxide emissions” Dr.Efe said.
SECURITY
Following the increase of reported cases of victims being robbed inside tricycles, the police said they are on top of the situation. As measure are being put in place to check the increased rate of robbery with tricycles.
According to the Divisional Police Officer ( DPO ) of Ekpan Police Station, CSP Chris Sogbara, the Police were working hard to nip it in the bud.
” As you probably must have seen, our men are always on patrol to stop and check. We also take them on awares and occasionally we raid some areas when we have security reports.”
“We also have frequent security meetings with the local government Chairman and a motion has been suggested or put across for keke riders to have uniform so that we can know those who are really keke riders and those who are not .”
“Apart from that, we are also enforcing religiously, the 10pm closing time for keke . On no account should any tricycle be seen on the street after 10pm.
Although the use of tricycles in Nigeria today, has probably come to stay, in view of the current economic recession in Nigeria, one can only wish that the riders get trained and get proper re-orientation because it is generally believe that keke riders are the same as okada riders; impatient, abusive and reckless on the road.
It is merely putting old wine in new bottle as the same erstwhile okada riders only have their nomenclature changed but not their attitude.
The government on their part should provide good roads for motorists to encourage more taxis to be on the roads. Until then, Nigerians may just continue to enjoy the tricycles of trauma.
