Encomium
-Clamps down on Keke NAPEP
TRICYCLE operators plying the Ogba/Ojodu/Berger area of Lagos State are laying allegations of harassment and extortion at the feet of Lagos State government officials.
This is following the torrid time officials of the Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA) and Vehicle Inspector Officers (VIO), as well as police officers from Area G, Ogba are giving operators of tricycles (otherwise known as Keke NAPEP).
ENCOMIUM Weekly investigated the allegations further to get the true state of things. In the course of our investigation, we spoke with affected Keke NAPEP operators. They chorused responses of pain, psychological torture, extortion and harassment in the hands of government officials following the recent clampdown on them. Their words…
“The VIO and LASTMA people are really disturbing us, even the police. When they arrest any of us, sometimes for a minor thing like stopping where we are not supposed to, instead of them to just allow you go, they would charge you huge amount of money. Sometimes, the kind of money they charge us will make you ask, ‘Is it Keke NAPEP they are charging like this? Only three passengers?’ They can charge as much as N30,000 or even N40,000.
“They even said we should stop carrying passenger in the front seat, but the annoying thing is that we used to carry all these Area G people in the front seat. Even the LASTMA people. Please, government should help us o. We don’t have any other business to live on.”
– Mr. I. O. Omukufor
“All the LASTMA and VIO people are disturbing us. We don’t have confidence and peace of mind while working again because you don’t know where they will jump out from. If they arrest you like this, they will just write any amount they like and you will be begging them to reduce it. But they will not listen. The amount can be up to N20,000 or sometimes even N30,000. What is ‘vexing’ me is that they don’t usually harass all these ‘big men’ with big cars. If you commit the same offence with a ‘big man’, they would leave the big man and face you. The harassment is very much. Both LASTMA, VIO and police, all of them are disturbing us here. We are begging them to take it easy because we are only fighting for our daily bread.”
– Mr. Abdulraheem Habeeb
“The government of the day is trying their best to help the masses. But the problem is that the people they have put in place to carry out the laws like the LASTMA and VIO are carrying the matter on their head as if it is personal business. Ah! They are too forceful and coercive. When applying laws, it should be done gradually, not suddenly as they are doing it now. I don’t like the way they are applying the law, but I know that the law is for our good. Another thing I don’t like is that when anybody is a LASTMA or VIO person, they think they are above the law and that the law does not affect them too.
“Please, we are begging, they should not banish us from Lagos State patapata. We know that the government wants to develop the state, but remember Rome was not built in one day. That is all I have to say.”
– Gbenga Ojo
A look at the traffic law, the premise upon which LASTMA and VIO are supposedly acting:
Sections 1 and 3 of the new traffic law states it is prohibited for ‘any person riding, driving or manually propelling a cart, wheelbarrow, motorcycle and tricycle on a total of 11 highways, 41 bridges and 496 routes…’ across the state.
Schedule 2, Section 4 of the new traffic law specifically identifies the routes to which motorcycles (otherwise known as okada) and tricycles (otherwise referred to as Keke NAPEP). They include: Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos-Ikorodu Road, Eti Osa-Lekki Coastal Road, Funsho Williams Avenue, Ogunnusi Road, Agege Motor Road, Babangida Boulevard Way, Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki Expressway, Ogba Road, Ijaiye Road, Ogba/Pen Cinema, Wempco Road, Acme Road, Yaya Abatan Road, College Road.
Sub-section 2 and 4 out-right gives power to LASTMA officers to arrest where appropriate and allow alleged offenders to be fined the stipulated amount for the offences committed, and prosecute any persons reasonably suspected of having committed any offences under the provisions of the law. However, the power to prosecute by LASTMA is subject to the provisions of Section 211 of the 1999 Constitution.
ENCOMIUM Weekly pressed further to seek the stance of LASTMA and the police on the issue. We put a call across to the LASTMA PRO, Mrs. Bola Ajao, who promised to get back to us. She was unable to until we went to press on Sunday, April 27, 2014.
We asked her this question: ‘Keke NAPEP operators within the Ogba/Aguda area are alleging cases of extortion and harassment by your officials. How do you react to this?’
We also contacted the Lagos Police PPRO, Ngozi Braide, who also said she was going to get back to us. We were unable to get a response until we went to press.
The question we asked was ‘Lagosians are getting the impression that Keke NAPEP would be banned out-rightly from Lagos State with the recent clampdown on them both by LASG officials and the police. How do you react to this?’
– MICHAEL NWOKIKE
