For many fresh graduates in the North, the idea of relocating to the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, is a no-brainer. Given the opportunities that abound in the nation’s capital symbolised by the exotic cars, beautiful buildings and flamboyant politicians, getting a lucrative appointment or a contract shouldn’t be difficult or so they think.
The bubble of hope often bursts a few months after their relocation, giving way to dejection and frustration. They soon discover that behind the glitter and glitz of the city lays the reality of unemployment, poverty, and the unspoken grind of daily lives underscored by the tough economy.
The hope of an alluring life in the FCT perhaps explained why Biliaminu Abdullahi, a 26-year-old National Diploma holder from Kaduna State Polytechnic, got excited when he received an invitation from his maternal uncle to start a new life in Abuja following his failed attempt to secure a job in his hometown,…
On arriving at Galadimawa, in Abuja, Abdullahi soon discovered that the promised job involved operating a commercial tricycle. The young man pondered why an ND holder like him should be reduced to the level of a tricycle rider.
For days, he toyed with the idea of going back to Kaduna to continue with his search for a befitting job.
He told , “I was confused. Wasn’t the essence of returning to school to change my fortune since we were not even privileged to have a graduate in my family?
“At least, that was what prompted me to seek admission to Kaduna Poly after completing my education at Government Secondary School in Barnawa, Kaduna, in the first place. I didn’t know things were this tough in Abuja, unlike the stories we heard back home.
“In the end, I came to terms with reality and accepted the offer. Now I shuttle between Galadimawa and Karimajiji along Airport Road conveying passengers with my tricycle. With time, I also discovered it wasn’t a bad business as I can now fend for my wife and my little kid.’’
Beyond providing for his family’s needs, Abdullahi explained that he had been able to make sufficient money to purchase an additional tricycle.
He added, “With the aid of the savings I have made so far, I have secured a new tricycle on hire-purchase. This business has really tried for me, I won’t lie.
“My take-home pay every day now amounts to N5,000. Sometimes, it could be more if there is a fuel hike or I have a private arrangement. Now, I am responsible for paying my younger brother’s school fees back home.”
Abdullahi Tiamiyu, who started out as a teacher, is now a full-time keke operator. The graduate of the Federal University of Agriculture, Zuru, had abandoned his teaching job at a school in Kebbi in the hope of getting a lucrative job in Abuja.
When he mooted the idea of dumping his vocation for greener pasture in Abuja, his father was incensed.
He said, “My father never wanted me to come in the first place. He wanted me to continue with the local tutorial I was doing despite knowing I wasn’t paid a dime. He eventually gave his consent when I promised I would return if things didn’t go as planned.”
Shortly after he commenced the business in Abuja, his tricycle was almost snatched by a suspected thief posing as a passenger along the Kabusa area.
Although the marauder was allegedly armed with a knife, Tiamiyu narrated that he put up a bold resistance knowing the implication of losing the tricycle which was handed to him on trust.
“I held on tightly to the keke and kept screaming for help. The crook eventually let go of me and fled when he saw some people coming towards our direction. It was one scenario that still traumatizes me.
“My dad almost developed a heart attack when he heard about the incident. He kept yelling on the phone for me to return immediately or he would disown me. It took the intervention of a relative to reassure him it was a job hazard that is not restricted to only keke business.”
While disclosing that it is hard to tell whether he will dump the business if he secures a good paying job, the ebony-skinned lanky youth appealed to the Federal Government to extend its palliatives to create employment in the sector by providing tricycles to graduates and secondary school leavers in the North.
The story of 25-year-old Salisu Ibrahim was that of gratitude. A graduate of Ahmadu Bello University and native of Funtua Local Government in modern-day Katsina, Ibrahim confessed that he wasn’t pressured or forced by anybody to join the business.
After graduating from ABU in 2018, he engaged in some menial vocations, which he felt were beneath his status as a university graduate.
“It is funny how schools don’t prepare us psychologically for the brutal experience out there. The reality soon dawned on me that, getting a job immediately after school, is not always as rosy as lecturers and stakeholders paint it. Walahi! I struggled seriously.
“But looking back now, I must also admit I set a high standard for myself in my frantic search for a dream job,’’ he reminisced.
The problem of unemployment in Nigeria is largely under-reported. In a report released in August, the National Bureau of Statistics said the country’s unemployment rate, which stood at 5.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022 slowly declined to 4.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2023.
In a 2021 report, the NBS claimed over 40 per cent of the working age group in FCT is unemployed. But the Nigeria Labour Congress faulted the figures, saying it did not reflect the current realities.
In its Labour Force Survey (4th Quarter 2022 and 1st Quarter 2023) report, the NBS stated that it had enhanced the methodology of collating labour market data in line with International Labour Organisation guidelines.
The body explained that to count as employed, an individual must have worked for at least “one hour in the previous seven days – making them employed at work – or they must typically work for pay or profit, even if they did not do so in the previous seven days – making them employed, but temporarily absent. This approach follows the ILO standard.”
In April 2023, KPMG revealed that Nigeria’s unemployment rate increased to 37.7 per cent in 2022 and would further rise to 40.6 per cent, because of the continuing inflow of job seekers into the job market.
The firm responsible for providing audit, tax and advisory services to many of the world’s leading organizations added that unemployment would continue to pose a problem as a result of slow economic growth and the inability of the economy to absorb the 4-5 million new entrants into the job market every year.
KPMG predicted that unemployment would grow to 43 per cent in 2024.
In the same vein, it is worth noting that the inflation rate in the country had surged to 26.72 per cent in September. According to the NBS, there has been a 0.92 percentage point increase from the earlier 25.80 per cent in August.
Investigations by our correspondent in October revealed that no fewer than 500 commercial tricycles ply the Apo-Kabusa-Lokogoma-Galadimawa-Idu-Airport Junction-Karmo roads, which ranked as some of the busiest routes on the outskirts of the FCT on a daily basis.
The Kubwa-Lugbe axis is another notable densely populated area where commuters relied heavily on Keke to get to their destinations.
While many of the shuttle riders struggled to speak passable English, their mastery of the Hausa language was impeccable.
The Chairman of the National Commercial Tricycle and Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association, Alhaji Salihu Tella confirmed that poverty and unemployment as factors driving school leavers and graduates into the keke transport business.
Tella oversees the operation of NACOTAMORA in Galadimawa, Games Village, Gudu, Kurumi, Kabusa, Dakwo, Guduwi, Charity, Idu, Airport Junction, Karmo, Lokogoma and other areas.
The middle-aged man also told our correspondent that the union members included primary and secondary school leavers, university graduates and others who had no formal education.
He said, “In all, about 450 of our 500 members can read and write. The majority are either SSCE or primary school holders and only 50 people cannot speak English.
“These category of people were the ones forced out by their parents to take up the keke business to fend for themselves and the family. But as you rightly observed, the population of graduates and National Diploma holders we have is not more than 20.
“Even as the chairman of the park, I didn’t have the privilege to further my education. I only managed to secure a secondary school certificate.”
Tella lamented that managing the growing number of commercial tricycle riders comes with its own challenges.
According to him, a brand new tricycle costs about N1.7mn while a fairly used one ranges from N800 to N1mn.
“For those who preferred hire purchase which payment could span up to two years, the keke will be given out for around N1.9mn to N2.3m, depending on the agreement with the sellers.
“Any tricycle you see being sold between N350,000 and N700,000 will likely give you a headache. It usually comes with no warranty. The rider will just be frequenting a mechanic workshop for nothing,” he stated.
He, however, admitted that many of the graduates sometimes dumped the keke business once they got better job opportunities.
“Even with the keke business, these young graduates are always on the lookout for government work and other opportunities. Even the ones still attending higher institutions and doing the keke transport business don’t stay long. Once they collect their diploma or degree, they don’t look back.
“The only reason you still see some of them around is because they have not secured a good appointment.”
Continuing, the veteran tricycle operator appealed to the Federal Government to assist the union by making tricycles available to their members at an affordable rate. He equally asked for credit facilities for the union members.
He disclosed that the only time the union members had such a privilege was during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
The FCT branch chairman of NACOTAMORA, Alhaji Bala Haruna, also confirmed that graduates who drove tricycles for survival did not hold the job for long.
Haruna explained that his union has over 12,000 members comprising motorcyclists and tricycle riders in the FCT, stressing that many of them had been fortunate to secure employment in ministries, agencies and parastatals of the Federal Government in Abuja after some time.
“In truth, it is hard for me to give you accurate statistics on the exact number of graduates in our membership. That’s partly because we don’t usually demand for qualifications or ask them to indicate their educational status in the registration forms.
“But now that you raised that concern, by the grace of God, we will create a space for it in the form henceforth to capture this class of riders.
“From my frequent interactions with them, I can confidently tell you that over 3,000 of the 8,000 Keke riders fall in the category of degree, ND and NCE holders. Some of these tricycles are bought on hire purchase.
“At times, we have investors who come to the office directly to buy the keke and entrust them to us to give to available drivers.
“But of course, we have our rules which stipulate we train you on the orientation, skills and driving rudiments for two months as well as observe restricted routes.
“You know that we cannot be seen violating laws or confronting government officials like Vehicle Inspection Officers on certain policies.
“This is why we equally have a task force to check their activities and arrest unregistered keke riders to avoid problems with security agents,” he explained.
The spokesperson, Directorate for Road Traffic Services, FCT, Kalu Emetu, said the major players in the FCT transport business were graduates who have a fleet of tricycles and dispatch riders operating on Abuja roads.
This was as he ruled out poverty as one of the factors fuelling the increasing number of keke riders.
He stated, “I agree with you that there are so many university graduates operating keke today. But I tend to differ on the notion that it was being fuelled by poverty. When we banned the use of delivery bikes in the FCT, these guys came around.
“Many of them own up to three, five to 10 within three years of starting the business. The reason they engaged in that job was clearly because they were making serious money from it. The same mentality applies to the keke business.
“These graduates often raise money to buy the tricycles and give out to some of these locals who started out as cart pushers who later graduated to okada riders. Their intention is the same.
“Another concern we have is the way these riders behave around Nyanya, Maraba and Karshi areas. Our findings show that these people behaved like a confraternity where they practise ‘an injury to one, an injury to all’ tactic. There is nothing you will do to one that all of them won’t gather to deal with you.
“Driving vehicles around this area is complicated. It is better to drive into a big pothole than to swerve and hit a tricycle rider. This is one challenge we are having with them.’’’
Speaking further, Emetu noted, “That’s why I don’t think it is poverty that is bringing them into keke business. The graduates or literate ones we see around often buy these tricycles to hire out.
“They are not directly involved because they see it as an investment. It is only the few that insist on making all the gains you will see riding around. They sometimes ride one of the tricycles around to monitor the operation of those they gave them to. But when you probe further, you will realise they have more than one keke.”
