“We are paying through our sweat” – Anambra ‘Keke’ riders decry extortions
Business/Economy
Awka, Anambra – Tricycle operators under the Anambra Keke Drivers Forum have raised alarm over persistent multiple taxation, extortion, harassment, and intimidation by both state and non-state actors, including revenue touts and illegal collectors.
The operators appealed to Governor Prof. Chukwuma Soludo to urgently tackle the activities of illegal revenue collectors, which they say have worsened their economic hardship.
Speaking to journalists in Awka on Tuesday, Forum Chairman Ifeanyi Okafor said that despite the creation of the Anambra State Anti-Touting Agency (SASA), touts continue to operate freely at parks, loading points, and major roads across the state.
Okafor alleged that touts extort between ₦400 and ₦1,000 daily from operators, in addition to official loading fees. This occurs despite the governor’s earlier assurance that tricycle operators would face no further payments beyond statutory taxes.
He cited several locations:
• At Amawbia Express Park, touts collect ₦300 per loading plus an additional ₦200 booking fee.
• In Ifitedunu, Dunukofia Local Government Area, operators pay a daily ₦200 welfare levy and another ₦200 for an unspecified purpose.
• At Ichida in Awka, heavily built men working with touts collect ₦1,000 daily per tricycle.
• At Kwata Park, operators pay ₦400 daily to touts.
• At Eze Uzu Agu, Awka, riders are forced to pay ₦300 daily along the road, apart from approved fees.
The chairman expressed disappointment that reports to the Anti-Touting Agency rarely yield results, alleging that some members of the agency may have been compromised and are colluding with the touts.
He noted that operators can no longer work freely in areas like Ifite-Awka due to ongoing harassment, despite government promises of protection.
Okafor also criticised the state government for introducing multiple compulsory requirements, including security jackets, smart rider’s permits, security profiling, colour codes, enrolment, T-Code, U-Code, H-Code, and other documentation, each attracting extra costs.
He argued that tricycle transportation was introduced as a poverty alleviation scheme to create employment, and that most operators took up the job out of economic necessity rather than choice amid prevailing hardship.
The Forum further faulted the Anambra State House of Assembly’s approval of a law mandating security identification jackets for commercial motorcycle (Okada), tricycle (Keke), and bus operators. While the policy aims to enhance security and identification, Okafor said it adds unnecessary financial burden.
He pointed out that operators had already been profiled and issued T-Codes for tax purposes, questioning the need for additional payments.
“We are paying through our sweat, yet government continues to introduce one policy after another that keeps impoverishing us,” he said.
Okafor appealed to Governor Soludo to allow tricycle operators to form an independent union comprising only registered Keke riders, which he said, would help monitor members, promote discipline, and strengthen security in the sector.
