Other Pages
- Opinion Poll
- About Us
- Send Your Story
- Contact Us
- Newsletter
- Privacy Policy
- Terms and Conditions
"Ile-Iwe, Ile-Iwe", the tricycle aka 'Keke Marwa' operator, a young man, bawled at Abule-Egba neighbourhood, Ikeja Division of Lagos State, in West Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria.
In the blink of an eye, a light-skinned woman entered the three-wheeled vehicle - but funnily, not as a commuter.
She is a serving personnel of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), saddled with the responsibility of addressing traffic infractions on Nigerian roads. They are supposed to be traffic police, but she and her cohorts transmogrify into 'Agberos' (a Yoruba word for bullies who collect money from commercial motorists for picking passengers at the bus stops and may resort to assault if the money is being withheld by the drivers).
This reporter was on board on the evening and watched how this policewoman seized the key of the 'Keke Marwa' despite the operator telling her he'd 'settle' her after that trip. She collects N100 per 'Keke'.
A policewoman who camouflage as a passenger; notorious for forcefully taking bribe from 'Keke Marwa' operators at Abule-Egba bus-stop
"[Mama] Please let me come back from this trip. I will give you the money," the youthful 'Marwa' operator told the policewoman in his native Yoruba.
"Don't come back. Answer me right now," the adamant officer replied before taking off his tricycle key.
While police extortion is an age-long problem in Nigeria, this methodology of extortion in respect of vulnerable 'Keke Marwa' operators is bewildering, this three-month investigation uncovered.
Tricycle operators who ply Abule-Egba to Command route, which is under Zone C of the Tricycle Owners and Operators Association of Nigeria (TOOAN), an affiliate of the National Union Road Transport Union, (NURTW) have to - for no clear reason - bribe traffic wardens and police officers (both uniformed and those in civies).
Traffic wardens stationed at this post which is adjacent The Nigeria Police Divisional Headquater, Ile Iwe bus-stop, Meiran, are well known for collecting bribes from sinless motorists
At Ile-Iwe Bus-Stop, right in front of the Divisional Headquarters of the Police at Ajasa Road, Meiran Lagos, commercial vehicle drivers are compelled by traffic wardens, an agency established to operate under the same condition of service with the NPF, to settle up with at least N100 - again, for no specific reason. This reporter witnessed at least three events of such in a week.
In May 2020, on a weekend, posing as a passenger, I took a round-robin trip with a tricycle owner for about three hours, connecting Ile-Epo Oja and Captain, Abule Egba, and I discovered a lot of illegal money being collected by not just the police, but also the 'Agberos' of TOOAN.
Like at Abule-Egba, plain-clothed female officers were tracked down at Ile-Epo bus-stop, disguising as passengers and launching into 'Keke Marwa' to obtain by threat from the riders.
The bus-stop begets the popular Ile-Epo Foodstuff Market in Abule-Egba area of Agbado Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area, Lagos.
I saw how a fair-complexioned policewoman in mufti entered, sat by the Keke Marwa operator, and coerced him to pay N100 - for no offence.
On reaching Ekoro junction, uniformed police officers collected N100. These officers - primarily assigned to the road to complement the efforts of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) in coordinating vehicular movement - collect this illegitimate money day and night at both Ile-Epo and Ekoro Junction, I gathered.
Uniformed men stationed at Alira junction, Old Ota Road, just before Oke-Odo Ile-Epo police station do collect N200.
Quizzed why the operators are not demanding to know the exact reason for the money being collected, a source who is a tricycle operator and doesn't want to be named asked rhetorically, "Can anyone query them?"
On a particular day, en route to Agbelekale inward Command, Alimosho LGA, a tricycle operator lamented the activities of some civilians who are planted by the police to apprehend those who flout orders as face-mask usage, one-way driving, overloading, etc.
These people board 'Keke Marwa' like a normal passenger and then signal to the police, who flags drivers down and impound their 'Keke'.
Money used to retrieve the 'Keke' never gets to the purse of the Nigeria Police Force.
"Some colleagues of mine are also used as 'Aja Olopa'", my source, a 'Marwa' operator, who spoke to me on condition of anonymity divulged.
Boys of TOOAN, an offshoot of the NURTW - believed to have about 4 million members across Nigeria -, are deployed to strategic positions in the 21 Alimosho roads completed by former governor, Akinwunmi Ambode (Alimosho is the biggest, by population, of the 20 local government areas of Lagos State).
From Agbenuba Meiran/Ajasa Command to Captain Ekoro to Ile-Epo Oja, refusal of 'Keke Marwa' operators to pay 'levies' (both legal and illegal) often lead to heated argument, harassment, or unnecessary delays.
After attaching ridiculous descriptions to the so-called levies, they collect 'Owo Ita' N1, 100; 'Owo Chalk' N100; security N100; 'Owo Straight' N400; 'Owo Ayuba' N100; 'Owo Adugbo' N100; and the rest.
Of all, only the money meant for the Union i.e the NURTW [ticket]; and the TOOAN security levy is licit. And even at that, the Union levy (tricycle receipt) has been hiked, as just N100 naira is written on the ticket.
At TOOAN, NURTW Zone A, where Ile-Epo Oja falls under, functionaries of the Union collect N1, 100 daily for this ticket
Although there is no official number of commercial tricycles plying Lagos roads, credible findings by this reporter showed that there are at least 1, 200 'Keke Marwas' plying different routes across Zone C and at least 100,000 tricycles operating in Lagos State.
The issue of extortion is not limited to Zone A or Zone C though, multiple stakeholders told me. It is the same story throughout Lagos State, a major financial centre in Africa.
The history of 'Keke' as a means of commercial transportation in Nigeria is directly traced to the government of Mohammed Buba Marwa, who was the military Governor of Lagos State from 1996 to 1999. Thus, the name 'Keke NAPEP' gained popularity across Nigeria.
TOOAN Lagos is unarguably the biggest tricycle union in Nigeria.
They started majorly as a cooperative society registered with the Lagos state ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives with the aim of giving financial assistance, support, and stand in solidarity with each other when the need arises.
The cooperative later snowballed into a full transport association encompassing all the owners and drivers of tricycles in the state.
Alhaji Abiola Azeez fondly called Istijabah is the Chairman Zone C, TOOAN. He is also a member of the Lagos NURTW Board of Trustees (BoT).
Istijabah joined the transport sector as a Unit Chairman and moved through the ladder as Branch Chairman, Zonal Chairman of TOOAN, and now a member of the NURTW Lagos BoT.
In an interview with Openlife in June, Istijabah revealed that he has 'over 1000 tricycles managed by Istijabah Transport Company, plying different routes across the entire Zone C'.
READ A:SO: INVESTIGATION: How Teens Are Sexually Exploited On Nigerian Cyber Space
"It is difficult estimating the numbers of men and women working under my transportation business. In the tricycle department, I have over 1000 tricycles managed by Istijabah Transport Company, plying different routes across the entire Zone C," Istijabah had said.
In the same interview, Istijabah disclosed that "the money we make daily is shared from the street to the National leaders".
"The money we make daily is shared from the street to the National leaders. You can imagine the stages that the token collected from bus drivers are distributed.
"The collector takes a certain percentage to take care of his home and the sharing process goes through the finance officer at the Unit level, to the branch, Zonal, State Exco Chairman, Federal Exco and finally to the National President.
"The money made daily is not owned by an individual. So I don’t have sole authority over it, because we make remittance to different levels until it gets to the National level of NURTW.
"Instead of paying unnecessary attention to the daily earnings, the Union makes, we deserve some credits for creating jobs for millions of people.
"NURTW is the largest employer of labour. This can be contested with facts," he had stated.
When I put forward my findings to a strong executive member of TOOAN, Zone C, who spoke to me on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, he said the boys who collect the supposed levies are being renumerated from what they make.
"They are not placed on salary, you know. So, we pay them from what they collect on the road," he said.
On the N1, 100 levy, which ticket bears N100, he explains that it is an augmentation of the multi-billion naira NURTW (National), TOOAN, Local Government, and Security dues.
While this exposé unabashedly unmasks persons with exploitative tendencies, some men in uniform still show they are honourable.
At Were Were, around Command, I frequently sighted traffic police performing their duty honourably, without milking 'Keke Marwa' operators.
Multiple calls put through to DCP Frank Mba, the Police Public Relations Officer (PRO's) known MTN line for three consecutive days was not successful as his number was switched off.
2 Comment(s)