No food for lazy man

■ The daily hustles and hassles of keke driver
■ ‘I’ll never allow my son do this job,’ says an operator
BY HENRY OKONKWO AND LAWRENCE ENYOGHASU
They have heightened idea of what Lagos offers. So, when
they leave their diverse towns and villages to come to the city
of opportunities, they come with lofty dreams – dream to
make it big; dream to have a good life. So, it was with Sunday
Ekumu, an indigene of Afikpo, Ebonyi State. His grandmother
took him to live with her when his parents parted ways. So,
early in life, he learnt how to “fight” the world; how to survive
with his teeth and nails. He dropped out of school at SS3,
because there was no money for him to sit for the West Africa
Examination Council.
Like many ambitious young men, in February 1996, he left his
village for Lagos. He came with his own dream. Luckily, he
was able to secure a job in Cadbury as a casual worker.
Three years after, Sunday left Cadbury PLC to work as a
security guard in a residential building.
According to him, while he was at the job, he knew his desire
was to go into transportation business. Hence, he used his
little savings from his meagre earnings to purchase a
motorcycle. Believing that it would be best to earn a living as
a transporter, Sunday resigned and took to riding okada.
Shortly after, he was to discover that that earning a living as
an okada rider in such a bustling city is no piece of cake.
Although life was tough, he fought on, weathering the storm.
Things, however, were beginning to turn around for the better.
But not for long. August 2012, Lagos State government
passed the traffic law, which slammed a prohibition of
commercial motorcyclists from plying 475 routes, as well as
some major bridges. “That restriction was a huge setback for
many of us,” Sunday told Saturday Sun . “The banned routes
included most of the juicy routes that we ply and make more
money from. Things got very difficult for me, providing for
myself, wife and three children became a daunting task. I pay
almost N50,000 every three months as school fees for my
children in the primary school they attend. I had bills to pay
and the responsibilities weighed down heavily on me.”
Like many of his ilk, surviving became the issue. Life got
tougher by the day. Many okada riders dared the law, but the
resultant clampdown by the government on defaulters, made
the motorcyclists beat a hasty retreat. However, driven by the
need to survive, many gave up, sold their motorcycles and left
the city of dreams. Some others switched to other businesses.
Some disgruntled and dispossessed okada riders found relief
in commercial tricycle, popularly known as Keke Marwa . Some
sold all they had to buy and start driving the tricycles, while
others who could not afford it, opted to get one by hire
purchase.
Sunday got his via hire purchase and started plying Berger-
Olowora axis. “I could not afford to get a keke, so I went to
get one on hire purchase at N650,000. I was to be remitting
N15,000 every week. God was on my side, sometimes I pay
N20, 000.”
Today, the ubiquity of these tricycles in cities like Lagos, Aba,
Port Harcourt and Kano tells that many have found succour
earning their daily bread as commercial tricycle operators. In
Lagos, they are seen in their numbers revving along the roads,
and sprawl at major bus stops. Nevertheless, these trike
operators face several challenges earning their living.
The pains and travails:
The biggest troubles of the tricycle operator are government
security agents and traffic enforcement officers. One of the
motorcyclists that ply Mushin-Ojuelegba axis, Daniel Ojo, told
Saturday Sun that the officers make life unbearable for them.
“The VIO, LASTMA and the police are always harassing us.
Whenever we are arrested for minor violation, they will collect
heavy bribes from us to let us go”.
According to Sunday Ekumu, these agencies have frustrated
many operators out of their daily hustle. “LASTMA officials
arrest incessantly for little or no offence, and then fleece us
heavily. This makes it so difficult for us to meet our high-
purchase target. They almost frustrated me out of business,
and they have frustrated so many of my colleagues out of this
business.” Sunday recounts that VIO officials are greater
devils and that he was lucky not to fall prey to them, “If VIO
officials arrest any keke, they would first ask you to bail
yourself with N60,000 or N70,000.”
Another enormous challenge the tricycle operators face in their
struggle to make ends meet, is the daily harassment and
insult hurled at them by commercial bus drivers. Mojeed
Kolawole is another Keke driver that works around Oshodi
axis. According to him, “we receive lots of insults in the
business, especially from some commercial bus drivers who
threaten to hit us on the road. I was calling passengers one
day when a bus driver threatened to hit me, saying that I was
obstructing movement of his bus. I was actually not blocking
him but he did that because I was competing for the same
passengers he was also looking for.” Mojeed believes that the
drivers do not like seeing tricycles on the road because they
believe that their presence in the transport business reduces
their chances of making profit.
Most keke operators, who spoke with Saturday Sun, agreed
the work is not a job for the soft-hearted. “Any person, who is
not hard working, cannot do it because it is a tedious work. It
involves guts and energy. Riding a tricycle is a herculean task
and when you add the job of looking for passengers to it, it
becomes even more difficult. Some people think it is easy to
ride but it is not,” says Simone Ezeh, who also plies around
Mushin area.
Govt should just let us be…:
Amid their travails, the one wish of an average keke driver is
to be left alone to do his business without harassment. They
appealed to the government to call its traffic officers to order,
saying that many of them are out to enrich themselves by
extortion of commercial tricycle drivers. “The government is
trying to help the masses, but the traffic officers are
sabotaging their efforts and making brisk business. We don’t
have the peace of mind because you do not know when they
will come and start arresting and demanding bribes from us”,
laments Chukwuka Diobu. He continues,: “We keke drivers are
only trying to make a living and feed our families, so
government should just let us be in peace.”
Even with stress they pass through, many commercial
tricyclist agree that it’s a viable venture. But they vehemently
rejected toying with the idea that their child would ever grow
up to become a keke drivers. “Keke business is a good
venture, it has transformed the lives of many people and I
have brought so many into it. But every good father would
pray for his children to be greater than him. I don’t want my
children to go through the sufferings that I go through as a
commercial tricycle operator,” says Sunday Ekumu. He adds,
“What I am doing now is laying a foundation because I aspire
to build a transport company that my children would grow up
to run.”
Chukwuka agrees: “God forbid! My son would never grow up
to face the stress, insults and harassment I receive as a com­
mercial tricycle driver. Nobody takes pride in suffering.”
And for Mojeed, his son would grow up to do something more
respectable than drive keke for a living. “Of course, I wouldn’t
want my son on this job! How can you ask me that kind of
question? I train my son in a good school, and he is a very
bright young lad. I would never wish him to end up driving
K eke Marwa like me. God forbid!” Mojeed blasts.