The Nigerian Slum /Informal Settlement Open Letter
The Nigerian Slum / Informal Settlement Federation stands in solidarity with keke (tricycle) and okada (motorcycle) drivers in Lagos State to demand an end to the Lagos State Government’s crackdown on their primary means of livelihood and the attack on affordable transportation systems. The sudden efforts by the Lagos State Government to ban kekes and okadas on the primary streets of Lagos is unarguably an attempt to make the city less liveable for ordinary citizens.
www.realtmike.blogspot.com
In a city with already grossly inadequate transport infrastructure, and notorious "go slow," a majority of Lagos’s ~23 million inhabitants rely on kekes and okadas to move around the city. In fact, major areas in the heart of Lagos are virtually inaccessible without them.
Moreover, keke and okada drivers are close to the bottom of Lagos’s socio-economic pyramid – they are poor and without alternative means of livelihood. However, despite their poverty, they still pay receipted dues to Local Government Councils in the areas where they operate.
Changing Lanes is an award winning short documentary film about Umar Abubakar, the Chairman of the Lagos Island Physically Challenged Keke Union, and his work empowering other urban poor persons living with disabilities (PLWDs) to pursue alternative livelihoods to begging. Efforts like his should be encouraged and supported. Quite to the contrary, on the day the ban came into effect in Lagos, dozens of
If the Government in sincere in its purported justification – the safety of Lagosians – then the Government should use reasonable regulatory steps rather than a blanket ban that takes away both the livelihoods of the poor and the transportation systems of ordinary Lagosians without proferring any alternative.
We call on the Government to retract its ban on keke and okada and redirect public resources away from arresting keke and okada drivers, and towards improving Lagos’ inadequate transportation infrastructure, and creating livelihood opportunities for Lagosians most in need.
www.realtmike.blogspot.com
In a city with already grossly inadequate transport infrastructure, and notorious "go slow," a majority of Lagos’s ~23 million inhabitants rely on kekes and okadas to move around the city. In fact, major areas in the heart of Lagos are virtually inaccessible without them.
Moreover, keke and okada drivers are close to the bottom of Lagos’s socio-economic pyramid – they are poor and without alternative means of livelihood. However, despite their poverty, they still pay receipted dues to Local Government Councils in the areas where they operate.
Changing Lanes is an award winning short documentary film about Umar Abubakar, the Chairman of the Lagos Island Physically Challenged Keke Union, and his work empowering other urban poor persons living with disabilities (PLWDs) to pursue alternative livelihoods to begging. Efforts like his should be encouraged and supported. Quite to the contrary, on the day the ban came into effect in Lagos, dozens of
If the Government in sincere in its purported justification – the safety of Lagosians – then the Government should use reasonable regulatory steps rather than a blanket ban that takes away both the livelihoods of the poor and the transportation systems of ordinary Lagosians without proferring any alternative.
We call on the Government to retract its ban on keke and okada and redirect public resources away from arresting keke and okada drivers, and towards improving Lagos’ inadequate transportation infrastructure, and creating livelihood opportunities for Lagosians most in need.
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