WHO IS
EXPLOITING THESE NIGERIANS?
Sir, I write
this letter with great anguish of the soul. But very unfortunately, I do not
have the literary prowess of Sam Omoseyi of the Nation Newspaper so as to
actually and vividly x-ray how disgusted I am right now of this country. I wish
I got the English language at my finger tip like Wole Soyinka, I would have
painted most gory an imagery of how, only God knows who, has turned fellow
Nigerians into preys and prisoners of fortunes. But however, I would do as I
could to explain what evil is being done to these our hardworking fellow
countrymen, the tricycles operators popularly referred to as Keke Marya’s
operators.
Very recently, I got to know what Keke
Marwa’s operators spend on daily bases to keep their keke on the Lagos road.
Right now, keke sells for about N600, 000. That in the first place is a prize I
cannot rationalize. How possible it is to sell something one cannot proudly
drive to one’s in-laws’ house for that amount? I am suspecting that the hands
of government officials, politicians, or importers are involved in this treachery.
As if that is not enough, to register a new
keke in any of the Lagos’ parks, each operator is made to pay N30, 000. After
collecting the N30, 000 as registration, they also pay between N850 and N1, 200
daily depending on the area. Interestingly, I gathered that Lagos council
ticket bares just N100 or a little more.
Now sir, avail me the privilege to simplify
my point with this simple calculation. Let’s tag keke’s life span of keke at
4years. That means the cost of a keke Marwa for four years in a state like
Lagos would be as follows:
Cost of
purchase---------N600, 000
Registration---------------N30,
000
Daily
ticketing------------N1, 460,000 (100x4year average)
Fuel-------------------N876,
000 (600x4years average)
Maintenance-----------N
0
TOTAL----------------------N2,
966,000.
This simply implies that minus the cost of
maintenance, every keke on the street of Lagos has an average cost per four
years of N2, 966,000. That also means that every keke is supposed to make
consecutively, on daily bases, at least N2, 966,000/1460 days, which is above
N2000 daily to first and foremost recoup the expenses for four years. This is
when the keke is being used by the owner. But where it is being used by someone
else, the operator must make N4000 daily.
Now how much would they make, I mean the keke
operators, if they must remain in business? That means they must make the
average of N6, 000 daily to have a take-home at all. I think this is purely unrighteousness
in its highest degree; it is man inhumanity to man. Let’s somebody halt this
exploitation.
OHIMAI
DANIEL, LAGOS.
