As the rate of unemployment in Nigeria shoots higher, young women have taken to riding commercial tricycles to survive.
Keke woman: Miss Adi Clement at work
It has been revealed that many young girls of Ijaw ethnic
nationality have involuntarily taken to riding commercial tricycles,
popularly known as Keke Napep, to earn a living in Yenagoa, capital of
Bayelsa State, following the high level of unemployment caused by the
prevailing economic situation in the country.
According to findings by Niger Delta Voice, quite a number of
commercial tricycle operators operating at Yenagoa were mostly girls and
commuters seem to prefer them to their male counterparts because they
were reportedly more dependable.
One of them, a former food vendor, Miss Adi Clement, who,
ironically, hails from same country home as the incumbent governor of
the state, Hon. Seriake Dickson, said the government could not provide
her a job, and instead of idling away, she decided to take the bull by
the horns by venturing into the male-dominated vocation.
Smartly dressed in jeans jacket and face cap, Miss Clement, who spoke to NDV at Yenagoa, asserted: “I
choose keke because I like driving and its fun for me and besides,
since I have come to realize that there are no well-paid jobs anywhere
in the state I decided to take to keke to carry on with my life instead
of staying at home and idling away.
”Before this time, I was a food vendor; I prefer keke because I
have some time for myself unlike food vendor where I hardly have time
because after the day’s sales, you immediately start to prepare against
the next day. You go to bed late and wake up very early. But as a keke
operator, when I close by 6.00 pm, I have more time to rest and recover.
“I started last year and I am operating on a hire purchase
ownership arrangement, but thank God, I have almost finished the
repayment process. In a few weeks from now, I will now claim full
ownership of the tricycle, though it is very lucrative, but it has not
been easy.”
As it is common in other sectors of commercial transportation,
touting and taunting are also widespread in the commercial tricycle sub
sector where operators are constantly harassed and sometimes molested by
task force agents and unions. However, the female operators say they
have come to accept it as a norm and were coping with the trend.
Miss Clement hinted: “In this business, we know that touting or
taunting is part of the whole thing, so we have come to accept it and
see it as one of the hazards of the trade and we are coping well, we do
not have problem with them. We are beginning to see it now as a normal
thing.”
Initial discrimination by passengers
Her words: “At first most people were afraid and concerned
about their safety in the hands of a lady keke rider, so they were at
first not comfortable and most times declined to board our keke. But
gradually, a lot of people have come to the realization that we are as
good, if not better than the men. Now, people patronize and prefer us to
the men because we are more safety conscious. Some people even show
appreciation by giving us mouth-watering tips.
Advice to teeming unemployed
“Our young people should stop waiting and depending on the
government. Whatever you can do with your hands, try to do it. It takes
courage and determination, and faith without works is dead. We should
try self-reliance and entrepreneurship since government jobs are scarce
and nonexistent these days.”
Why we prefer female riders– Commuters
A cross section of commuters, who spoke to NDV, said they had no
qualms boarding tricycles operated by ladies, emphasizing that women
were naturally more safety conscious and traffic rule-compliant than
men.
Madam Joyce Ifiemi, who hires the services of a lady Keke operator on a daily basis said: “The women are calmer; they do not overload or over speed and people, particularly market women, prefer them.”
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