Aba Tricycle Operators Lament Multiple Levies

Operators of commercial tricycle popularly called Keke NAPEP in Aba, Abia State, have decried the multiple levies allegedly imposed on them by the state government.

The Chairman of   Aba Keke  NAPEP  Operators Workers Association(KNOWA), Mr. Eddie Anyanw said,“the  multiple levies are adversely affecting our daily takes”.

He told newsmen in Aba that agencies of the state government were collecting security levies from them,  along with the daily tolls.

Anyanwu said the daily tolls alone, had been increased from N100 to N180 per operator.

He recalled that the development had even provoked a peaceful demonstration by members of the union in Umuahia,a few days ago.

But the  Commissioner for Transport, Mrs Nene Nwauzor, said that the increase did not emanate from her ministry.

However, Mr Ukpai Uzokwa, a tricycle operator in Aba, blamed the  multiple levies on the proliferation of transport unions in the state.

Uzokwa appealed to the state government to help in harmonising the levies “to avoid people using government name to perpetrate crimes.”

Keke became a prominent means of transport in Abia  after commercial motorcycles were banned in 2009.