The federal government says it has spent about N5 billion on a covid-19 relief fund for transport sector operators but many said they have not received the N30,000 one-off grant.
A month later, President
Aside from being the main source of income for his family of seven, not working also meant
The lockdown lasted for over a month. But even after it was relaxed, patronage remained low.
"Before Covid-19, I was making between N6,000 and N7,000 daily but now I hardly get N1,500 in a day. I wait up to four hours on the queue for my turn to load passengers," he said as he spoke with this reporter in July this year.
It was thus with excitement that he heard the news on the radio in March this year that the federal government was disbursing N30,000 each to transporters as palliative over the economic effects of the pandemic.
But four months later,
"They should stop saying they gave tricycle drivers money because it is making me angry," he said.
Tracking palliative for tricycle drivers
The federal government launched the N2.3 trillion Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP) in
The plan includes the Transport Track of the Transport and Artisans scheme, a subset of Micro,
This involved the disbursement of a one-off grant of N30,000 each to qualified individuals operating in the transport sector. An estimated N5 billion has been reported spent on this scheme. The target beneficiaries include rideshare drivers, such as
On
The Deputy General Secretary of the
That day, the Minister of State,
This means 146, 811 transport sector beneficiaries had been paid N30,000 one-off grant under the Transport Track, the disbursement totalling N4.4 billion.
Later at a press briefing on
Kubwa, Bwari, Deidei tricycle and bike riders "unaware"
However, like
"I want the government to know that keke drivers have not received any money, not even
Usama (he only provided one name) was a tricycle driver until the owner retrieved it from him because he was unable to meet up with his daily payment due to low patronage. He said he now relies on handouts from his colleagues to survive.
"Covid-19 collected my keke," he said. "This place was filled with tricycles. But over 100 people no longer have keke because they cannot 'balance' the owners. Most of us just hang around now."
Edeh ThankGod also said he had never heard about the palliative from the federal government.
"I used to ride a motorcycle but the task force collected it. Then I started driving a tricycle which I got through hire purchase but the target my owners gave me is too high. Even if I meet my target, I am left with little which I use only for feeding."
He appealed to the government to investigate how the funds were disbursed so that transporters can collect their share.
John, a motorcycle rider in Deidei, described the information as either a rumour or a lie because he had never heard of a stimulus package for transporters.
Taxi drivers
Our reporter also spoke with taxi drivers in Wuse and
David (many of the respondents wished to be addressed with his first names) operates in
The Secretary of the
"How many transporters got the N30,000? Who did they support with N30,000? What are the procedures? Moreover, is N30,000 enough?"
For him, if the government was sincere about helping transporters, it would have approached their associations to help with the disbursement process.
Female drivers yet to benefit from Government's intervention - President
Mrs Katagum had said in March that "only 22 per cent of female beneficiaries in the track were reached because of the peculiar nature of the transportation business."
The President of
"But up till this moment, we have not gotten anything from the government. We have been following up. We got information that the money is no longer with them and it is now with the
She said the
Few rideshare drivers received stimulus package
However, findings show that some drivers in private ride-hailing companies got the money. For instance, Berekete Taxi, a ride-hailing company in
A driver with the company, who asked not to be identified for fear of being removed from the platform, said the major condition was for the drivers not to be owing the company, because they get the vehicles on hire-purchase.
This condition excluded many drivers who were no longer meeting their payment schedules due to low patronage. The driver said competition for passengers has increased from private car owners (kabukabu) driven into the trade by economic hardship.
"Also selected were those that pay dues and attend meetings. You just write your name, phone number and vehicle number," another Berekete Taxi driver who also did not benefit, added.
Even at that, not all drivers who met the requirements received the money.
Other ride-hailing drivers left out
An official of Bolt Nigeria, another private ride-hailing company, told PREMIUM TIMES that the company contacted the federal government to provide support for their drivers through the scheme but their efforts were futile.
"For the sector that they were able to prove the value, they were obviously able to provide some support. But for ride-hailing, which the federal government does not have enough coverage over, that didn't happen," he said.
The reporter, however, gathered that Bolt could not benefit from the scheme because the government deals with only associations and the private transport company does not belong to any. Also, Bolt does not regard its drivers as employees but as 'partner drivers', a Bolt driver who requested anonymity told PREMIUM TIMES.
But while Bolt said its drivers did not benefit through the company, some of them did through
However, while CODA has over 1,000 members, only 50 persons reportedly benefitted. The government gave the association limited slots, the chairman of the
He told this reporter that the
"Within a month or two, the money was paid. It was between the end of last year and beginning of this year."
Only 20 per cent of our members benefitted- NURTW
The FCT chapter of the
"The efforts of the government are a welcome development but the people that are supposed to send the message down have failed, because out of 100, only 20 per cent got it," the vice-chairman of the union,
Although the official commended the initiative of the government to provide packages for transporters, he faulted the use of the Survival Fund Office to implement the process.
He said officials from the office came to the union's office to capture the biometrics of 750 members in March, requesting their names, account numbers, branches, and units of the drivers but only a few were credited in May.
"If any money is meant for an organisation, let the money be sent to the organisation's purse. The organisation knows the members better and they will do it. We can even do a patrol and deliver the same to the doorsteps of the members. But the current system has failed," he added.
No relief from government - President ACOMORAN
On his part, the National President of
He lamented that the union used money from its purse to purchase face masks and hand sanitisers for its members to comply with the Covid-19 safety protocols with the hope that they would also benefit from the relief.
"They set up a committee at the
RTEAN keeps mum to inquiries
PREMIUM
FG reacts to concerns about the scheme
At her press briefing of
"It is not everyone that will receive it. We work on a first come first served basis on our database. I am just informing you we had a large list waiting for us to make sure that we have reached some kind of equity", she said.
She said the
She dismissed complaints of lack of awareness of the initiative. The minister said the steering committee in charge of implementing the schemes aired radio jingles, held town hall meetings, made fliers in different languages, and shared them in parks.
"Saying they do not know, for me, sometimes it is a Nigerian factor and sometimes, it is a factor of those who know not transmitting it to others. Because we worked with those large transport associations. We went on the radio, we even went to Berekete (a popular programme of Human Rights Radio,
Mrs Katagum said the steering committee experienced some setbacks while implementing the scheme. These include failed payments, interconnectivity problems between banks, wrong bank details on the part of the applicants, and banks debiting beneficiaries for loans they earlier took.
She also disclosed that beneficiaries were not given cash but monies were disbursed to their account.
"Nobody collected money on behalf of another person. Some people don't want to tell their neighbours that they actually got this money. Some confessed. Some will say, 'actually, it is my friend that told me'. 'I got but my friend did not get', so they don't tell", she added.
PREMIUM
Despite the complaints from the intended beneficiaries like
*This investigation is supported by the
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