Voices of assent and dissent have continued to rise over the recent decision by the Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi-led Enugu state government to impose restrictions on the time of operation of tricycle riders in the state, beginning its enforcement from 1st April.
What initially circulated as a rumour or rather what some people referred to as ‘April fool’ was eventually confirmed by state government officials who cited security reasons in the overriding interest of the people as the pointer behind the recent directive to ban tricycle operators, popularly known as Keke riders, from 9pm till the following morning.
The Commissioner for Information, Barr. Chidi Aroh, while responding to series of questions on the matter on a radio program yesterday, noted that the decision was part of the resolution of the state government to address rising concerns of insecurity, adopting an advice from a meeting it had with heads of security agencies in the state.
According to the commissioner, “I can confirm to you without doubt, that there’s no ban on Keke riders; what is put in place is the restriction on the time of operation, for the overall security of the state. It was a decision and advise of the collective of security agencies in Enugu that there needs to be some restrictions on the operation of Keke, limiting the hours of operation, particularly in the night.
“This is in fact, necessary for the overall security of the state and when it comes into force, the regulation will stop Keke riders from moving by 9pm in the night.
“There’s no curfew imposed in Enugu. What we are saying is that a particular means of transportation, given the indices being analysed and taken care of by the security agencies will not operate after a certain time in the night.”
He added that the state government who had a tripartite meeting with the security agencies and the Association of Tricycle Riders Transport Union (ATRTU) was acting in consultation with stakeholders, and taking advise strictly from the security agencies who are monitoring security situation in the state.
Stemming from security reports over the years, there are rising incidences of armed robbery, theft, snatching of phones and bags of residents by criminals who uses tricycles as a means to disappear into their hiding places immediately after their attack on their victims.
But despite assurances that the directive will improve the security situation in the state, however, the development have once again rejuvenated growing concerns that government planned to phase out, entirely, the operation of tricycle in the state and replace it with other means of transportation just as it completely banned motorcycle operation in the past. Recall that at the climax of the 2019 general election, rumours were rife that the state government had plans to ban tricycle operation after the election. This was frantically denied by the government who said “there is no iota of truth in it”.
More genuine concerns were coming on the backdrop of the increasing rate of unemployment in the country as most people, particularly the youths who are graduates of different tertiary institutions, has employed the use of tricycles as their source of livelihood while others argued that the comparative advantage of using tricycles to transport residents and goods from one point to another over buses and taxis is more cheaper and easier for them.
Speaking on the hardship the restriction will impact on the lives of the people, Chinedu, a tricycle operator who spoke with our correspondent, cried out that as an apprentice he learns work during the day and resort to commercial tricycle driving at night to make ends meet. He said, “the issue remains that the government should have considered some certain things. There are people who will start operating keke from 9pm till late in the night for them to sustain their families.”
“I learn trade and do other things in the day. It is only around 6pm that I come out to make money with my Keke. The same with so many others I know. This policy is not favourable to us,” he asserted.
A female worker who simply identified herself as Ngozi, queried what will be the fate of night workers who uses tricycles as a means of transport to their places of work.
“I don’t think government did a proper evaluation of the pros and cons before coming out with this decision. I work at night and sometimes, I return from work late in the night and because Keke is the cheapest means of transport in this city, I prefer using it to go to my house and place of work. I don’t think the welfare of night workers were put into consideration before this order was given,” she said.
Another resident, Osondu, who spoke against the decision hinged it on the inability of security agencies to safeguard lives and properties in the state. According to him, “Banning of Keke from 9pm to 5am is a total failure of our security personnel. You cannot tell me that in a developed clime where things are moving fine, the police cannot checkmate the movement of people in a city as small as Enugu. But in the morning they mount on the roads to extort money from Keke riders and in the evening, they will chase them in.”
“These people have started again! Sometime ago, Okada was having this kind of issue and it was banned and we started using Keke. Evil must continue to happen whether you ban Keke or not. Evil doesn’t have any particular time of operation, it happens in the morning, afternoon and in the night,” the resident noted.
In spite of the glaring hardship the decision will have on the residents, some other people in the state have spoken in support of the decision, appreciating the government for issuing the directive.
In his contribution, Chinedu Nwobodo, pleaded with residents to comply with the directive saying it will help to stem incidents of crimes in the state.
Nwobodo said: “the decision was made based on security report before the government and if it is so, I encourage everyone to key into it and watch if Keke is banned from 9pm till the next morning, the security implications and reasons for the decision is proved, then we can know where the problem is coming from.
“I will only let the government understand that Keke in Enugu state outnumbered the buses and taxis put together. I implore them to look at how to increase the number of commercial cabs that will operate within that time.
“I am of the view that by 9pm, greater number of people would have retired to their homes. The pressure might not be as we think because by that time, some institutions, organizations, markets and schools would have closed. I want us to queue into it, let us continue to maintain the security standard we have because compared to other states in this country, Enugu is relatively better.”
A resident, Chijioke, supported the decision, saying: “the banning of Keke should be a reality. In my area in Trans Ekulu, could you believe that Keke will be operating till 1am, 2am and 3am and sometimes I ask myself, doesn’t these people that operate Keke have eyes, or are they the proverbial kerosene that don’t sleep? Some of them are the ones that carries out all kinds of evil activities against innocent people.
“In the morning they wake up by 4am and when you’re going to morning mass, they’ll jump out of their Keke to rob you off your belongings. So they should be banned. I don’t see what someone will be doing on the road from 12pm till the next morning.”
Sony also said: “I support government to ban them from 9pm till the next day. Yesterday, from nowhere, some people with Keke blocked a young girl going to church around 7am, collected the whole money with her, shot the girl on the leg and disappeared into thin air. Many of them will be at home sleeping but once it is 7 or 8 o’clock in the evening, they’ll come out with their Keke to begin their criminal activities, pretending to be doing their normal job. In fact, let them be banned from 6 o’clock in the evening till the following morning.”
In her submission, Mrs Chika, a trader at the Holy Ghost market said, “somebody who left his home by 6 in the morning, till 9pm, if that person has not made any money, he should go and rest. I support the idea of banning Keke from 9pm to 6am. We have problems mostly at night from that roundabout junction in Holy Ghost down to railway, then at Gariki, Orie Emene and Abakpa. These are hotspots at night harbouring criminals who forcefully collect people’s properties in those areas.”
However, there are also fears that the enforcers of this directive, may capitalise on it to amass illicit wealth for themselves.
Citing incidences whereby security agents manning the state borders during the COVID-19 lockdown and/or restrictions on people and vehicular movements extort money from commuters and drivers to allow them entry into another state, Nwobodo cautioned against using the directive as a means to exploit residents, saying “let the implementers of this directive not be exploitative, let them do their job. If after a period of time, they should be able to come back to access if the ban on tricycles has helped to reduce crimes and criminality in the state or if it is on the increase.”
“I support the restriction on Keke operators but my concern is that in a situation of this nature, we have come to understand that those enforcers, the security personnel, will use it as an avenue to make money. The next thing you begin to see is that when they catch a defaulter, instead of dishing out the punishment that is due, they’ll collect money from him, turning it into a money making venture for themselves,” another concerned resident noted.
Another concern is on the economic implications that the restriction will contribute to killing nightlife as people who make money from eateries, night clubs and other establishments that runs at night may experience further decline in their businesses.
“What makes a city is its busy nightlife activities. If you go to places like Lagos, Ogun state, even Anambra state here, they don’t sleep. I cannot just say because I want to sleep, other people must abandon their businesses and also be sleeping at the time and stop people making legitimate money. On 30th of December last year, I came into Enugu from Lagos by 11:45pm due to bad roads. If not because of Keke, I couldn’t have gotten to my home in Agbani that night because when taxi drivers were charging N6,000 and N7,000, I was able to reach home by Keke with just N4,000. Will they also say because we have bad eggs collecting bribe in the police force, the security outfit should be banned?” a commuter who spoke to our correspondent queried.
There are also speculations that the restriction was made to create businesses for the planned rolling out of Innoson drivers that are in partnership with the government.
But addressing these latest concerns, the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Transport, Barr. Peter Ajah, said: “I’m very much aware that every policy must have its own advantages and disadvantages but what we should think about is which of them outweighs the other. You must have life first for you to go and have nightlife. If you don’t have life, you’ll not have nightlife. So, let’s have life first.
“There was a time there was no tricycle in Enugu. Tricycles we’re not created to improve nightlife. That wasn’t the initial intention. It is just one out of other means of transportation. Therefore, if there is no tricycles by 9pm, I know many people will be inconvenienced but other means of transportation will evolve naturally.
“People are free to make speculations because we’re practising democracy in Enugu state. The governor is in the business of trying to encourage private operators, taxi and so on but not to the detriment of anybody.”
Asked if tricycles are the only means criminals use to perpetrate crimes owing to the fact that the ban may inflict hardship on ordinary citizens of the state, the government official said: “The answer is no! But when you evaluate or contrast the rate of crime being perpetrated within the city, you try to weigh the ones done with buses and the one done with the use of taxis, you now know why it is good to limit the use of tricycles at night and again, tricycles metamorphosed from motorcycles and you know what motorcycles we’re used to do, leading to its ban in the past. Many of those people who were using these motorcycles now started using tricycles and because of the size of tricycles, there are certain places they can go that bus or taxi cannot go.”
“For those working at night, they can choose alternative means of transportation. For every government’s action, it cannot be 100 percent good for everybody but the underlining principle is the overall good of the majority of the people in the state. If you place it on a scale, what would you prefer: that somebody goes to work, pays a little more entering a bus to go home or that the person goes to work and never gets home because he is hurt in the process of getting home?
“What we’re doing is in the overriding public safety interest and safety is first. If I should own the whole world and lose my life in the next minute, I don’t know what I stand to gain. So lets put our hands together. It’s a little inconvenience but tomorrow will tell us that we took a good decision,” he concluded.
