THE IMPACT OF KEKE NAPEP AS POVERTY ALLEVIATION STRATEGY

ABSTRACT

The study concerns how the KEKE NAPEP programme of Federal Government Poverty
Eradication Programmes has fared in alleviating poverty among youths in Ojokoro Local
Government Area of Lagos State.

Poverty rate occasioned by unemployment has consumed a frighten dimension in Nigeria.

This prompted the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2000 to set up National Poverty
Eradication Programme by introducing the famous tricycle "Keke Marwa" to alleviate
thesuffering of the unemployed youth.

The purpose of the study concern.

1. To examine the impact of KEKE NAPEP on income of operators.

2. To examine how far it has truly alleviate poverty among the youth.

3. To examine the operational difficulties encountered by the operators and the possible
ways of alleviating to those problems.

4. To see whether cost of maintenance, registration etc in a major obstacle to the

successful operation of KEKE NAPEP.

5. To equally examine the ownership structure, mode of purchase and how much
they make daily.

A total of one hundred and three (103) questionnaires was desired and administered to
operators in Ojokoroarea council of Lagos State and the result analysed.
 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background To The Study

Poverty, as of its multidimensional nature, does not lend itself to easy

definition. Poverty is also a relative concept involving the individual

perception of his/her social standing inrelation to others in a given society.

Such idea informs the stand of those economists who believe that poverty

cannot be measured. Okoh, (1998).

However, different researchers have tried to define poverty. For instance,

Ravallion and Bidani (1994) refer to poverty as a lack of command over basic

consumption needs that are a situation of inadequate level of command over

basic rise to insufficient food, clothing and shelter. Aluko N.L. (1975), Sen

N.L. (1987) defined poverty as a lack of certain capabilities such as being

able to participate with dignity in societal endeavors.

Poverty has also been defined as the inability to attain a minimum standard

of living. World Development Report,( 1990).

Definition a poor person A poor person is considered as one without job,

who canno help himself or cater for his family, who has no money, farm or
business. Adolescent males and females are poor if they have no parent, no

education, no good food, clothes and health. A poor person is described as

one who is undernourished and aging fast, one without self confidence, looks

dirty and lives in filthy environment, one who cannot cater for his family,

train his children in the school and unable to pay medical bill (The World

Bank, 1992)

The major category of people vulnerable to poverty are women and children,

majority of whom live in the rural areas, or migrate from rural areas with

cannot fit into many of theurban jobs. Aina and Odebiyi (1997) attributed

urban poverty to high rate of urbanization, accompanied with high rate of

migration, population density, high rate of population growth, the

unemployment, inflation and bad governance (such that urban centres in

Nigeria generally lack basic social infrastructures to meet the needs of the

teaming population.

Poverty becomes widespread in Nigeria after the implementation of

Structural AdjustmentProgramme (SAP) in Nigeria. When Babangida seized

the government from Buhari, the former agreed to implement the

International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditionality becausepoverty had

become glaring in Nigeria most especially among the rural dwellers leading
torural-urban migration. It is in record that Babangida wasted more than 100

billion Naira on phantom projects, D.O. Elumilade, (2006). These projects

included the one initiated by his wife, Better Life progammes for the poor,

DEFRI, People's Bank of Nigeria, two democratic transition experiments and

other big time corruption in Babangida regime enriched themselves D.O.

Elumilade, (2006).

Poverty in Nigeria cuts across different strata of the society in all the thirty

six states and Abuja the FCT of the country. However, the position of Lagos

state as the former capital of Nigeria as well as the commercial nerve centre

of the country made the problem to be morepronounced. Lagos poses as an

attraction various rural settlements in Nigeria; particularly the youths who

see Lagos as a place full of economical opportunities.

However, the excessive influx of people from all parts of the country into

Lagos over the lasty affected the economy distribution of wealth, resources

and infrastructures. This has created a form of economic imbalance whereby

the available wealth, resources and infrastructures appear to be distributed

among the influential and the elites in the society.

A major manifestation of poverty in the state is seen in crime rate,

malnutrition, large numberof street urchins (Area boys) and the

establishment of many slums in and around the Lagos metropolis by people

who cannot afford to get good shelter for themselves. Some of these slums

include: the Maroko, Ajegunle and Mushin to mention but a few. Condition

of living in these settlements are so bad that those people cannot afford the

basic need such as good food, good shelter, good clothing etc. People in

these settlements also lack access to basic infrastructures such as road,

good education, good medical facilities among other things. Another

manifestation of poverty is seen in the over stretched usage of the available

resources like roads, health care facilities, power (electrical installations),

water, transport system etc. A very important resultant effect of poverty or

economy imbalance in Lagos is seen in the breeding of touts and miscreants

popularly known as ‘Agbero' or "Omoota" i.e. Motor Park touts. These people

are so ruthless in their conducts that they constitute major threat to the

peace and safety as well as the security of lives and property in the state.

Poverty has many root causes, while it is primarily related to very low income

earners; is in many dimensions especially in malnutrition, ill health and

illiteracy.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

The persistence of massive poverty in Nigeria has created myriads of social

maladies and security challenges. There is no doubt that there are some

factors within the poor that are responsible for this morally unconscionable

plague. Hitherto obvious lack of concerted institutional and policy framework

in Nigeria to tackle the scourge of poverty constituted a major challenge. It

is on the bases of these facts this research is designed to provide solution to

the following questions:

1. What are the effects of poverty on the urban dwellers?

2. What is the relationship between keke NAPEP initiative and poverty

reduction among operators?

3. Are there any factors militating against the success of keke NAPEP in

poverty alleviation?

4. What are the durability and efficiency as well as overall maintenance

implication of keke NAPEP?

5. What are the contributory effects of road network, traffic and transport

officials of keke NAPEP?

1.3 STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS

The following hypothesis will be tested at 0.5 significance:

1. Keke NAPEP has significantly reduced poverty among its operators.

2. Keke NAPEP is not expensive to maintain and operate.

3. Road network has no significant influence on keke NAPEP operation.

4. There is no significant relationship between traffic and profitability.

1.4 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY

The issue of poverty among the Nigeria population is a very important one.

It significant reduction is a task that the past and present government have

continue to address by coming up with different programmes and strategies.

One of such programmes is KEKE NAPEP which was introduced more than

10 years. This study is necessary in order to know the programme has

performed in term of poverty alleviation.

The findings of this study are expected to determine the achievement or

problem(s) being encountered by the programme in the study area in order

to come up with appropriate solution.

1.5 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The broad objective of the study is to examine the impact of KEKE NAPEP as

poverty alleviation strategy in Ojokoro Local Government Area of Lagos

State. The specific objectives are:

(i) To determine if there is improvement in the economic well-being of

the operators in the study area or not.

(ii) To determine the suitability of working environment for KEKE NAPEP

in the study area.

(iii) To determine whether the average revenue of operators is influenced

by the period of operation or not.

(iv) To identify the various costs incurred by the operators in the study

area.
 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAME WORK

2.1 Introduction

The need to distribute the world’s resources more equitably has been the

concern of government and international organizations. Inequity in the

distribution of the world’s wealth has created the condition of poverty, which

is present in every part of the world to varying degrees.

We prefer the term alleviation rather than eradication because it is not

feasible to eradicate poverty as expressed by Grosh.”Despite the long-run

poverty alleviation strategies implemented, poverty will remain with the sick,

poor and those in the poorest regions who would not take advantage of

adequate earning opportunities. Others will remain poor due to temporary

set back of seasonal variations in incomes, loss of farm, loss of breadwinner,

famine or macroeconomic stock” 1

A poor man in a least developed country - and his problem runs into millions

– suffers from poor nutrition. He is vulnerable to diseases. His average life

span is short. He lives in huts where squalor perpetually surrounds him, he

is illiterate both in letter and skill. He does not get his meals regularly, but
when he does, he is haunted with the fear of where his next meal will come

from. He is clad in rags, if at all. He walks without a pair of shoes. Lack of

hygiene, minimal food, or contagious diseases have inflicted some scars on

his body. He lives mostly in villages – remote and inaccessible to the rest of

the world - or in slums or shantytowns. The water he drinks is neither safe

nor clean. He is either unemployed or underemployed. But when he is

employed he is overworked and underpaid.

He suffers from apathy and ignominy. From birth to death he remains a

destitute. Usually he dies an infant, but if he does survive, dearth and want

haunt him to his end. Flood, famine, drought, and other natural disasters

continually plague him. If he is a villager, he may be landless; if he is a town-

dweller, he rarely has a roof over his head. When the price goes up, the

quality and quantity of his food goes down, because his income can no longer

buy him the food he needs. His wife, if she is pregnant, can only have a

worse fate.

He cannot buy books for his children or pay fees for the school, let alone the

toolbox he would love to buy for them to make their ends meet. When he

falls ill, he cannot pay fees to a doctor, nor can he buy the medicine for

himself let alone getting better amenities of life on these crises. He can
neither read nor afford to buy a newspaper; a radio transistor is a luxury to

him, many of his kin never see a bicycle. Starvation and death stare him at

his face as in medieval times. Indeed, for him, times have not changed since

the Dark Ages. And as though these afflictions were not enough, it is he -

and this is the greatest irony of all-who gives birth to the largest number of

children, thus spreading and multiplying misery to a dark universe of

destitution. When death comes to him finally, he seems to be happier than

those he has left behind him.

I speak of a destitute at length not merely because this occasion places on

me the special obligation to speak for him, but even more, because his story

is perpetrated on a scale and dimension that indeed is tragic in view of what

man can do for man and yet is not done… Let us resolve to work together,

to work with the people and governments of the less-developed world, to

help the poor man out of his poverty.2

Reducing poverty is now regarded by many as the most important goal of

human development. Indeed, it is now widely believed that at its core,

development must be about improvement of human well – being, removal

of hunger, disease and ignorance and productive employment for all. Its first

goal must be to end poverty and satisfy the priority needs of all people in a
way that will not jeopardize the opportunity for the future generations to

attain the same objective. Forty years after independence, poverty remains

one of the most pressing issues in Nigerian development. It has not only

become entrenched and multi faceted over decades, but has also continued

to elude efforts made at

eradicating it.

2.2 Literature Review

The purpose of this chapter is to review relevant literature to the subject of

the study. In this vein the chapter examines the concept of poverty,

indicators of poverty and how it is measured with a view to understanding

its nature and implication for the poor, the causes of poverty alleviation as

well as some approaches to poverty alleviation are examined with a view to

understanding poverty reduction measures.

Poverty is a multi – dimensional concept with no single universally accepted

definition. In other words there are different perspectives from which the

term can be defined. Odumosu has identified 3 broad concepts or dimensions

of poverty. These are:-

a. Poverty as subsistence
b. Poverty as inequality

c. Externality concept of poverty

a. Subsistence is concerned with the minimum of provisions needed to

maintain health and working capacity. The subsistence definition described

poverty objectively as lack of income needed to acquire the minimum

necessity of life. Those who lack the necessities to sustain life are described

as poor. However, there are difficulties in determining what constitutes

“minimum” which should be the dividing line separating the poor from the

non poor.

b. Inequality is concerned with the relative position of income groups to

each other. Poverty cannot be understood in isolating the poor and treating

them as a special group. Society is seen as a series of stratified income layers

and poverty is concerned with how the bottom layers fare in relation to the

society as a whole. Inequality is determined by studying the living standard

of the rich in relation to the poor.

c. The externality concept of poverty is concerned with the social

consequence of poverty for the rest of the society rather than in terms of

the need of the poor. According to this concept, people must not be allowed
to become so poor that they offend or are hurtful to the society. It is not so

much the misery and plight of the poor but the discomfort and cost to the

community (crime and disease), which is crucial. There is a problem of

poverty to the extent that low income creates problem for those who are not

poor. Poverty then consists of social problems correlated with income. To

improve the level of living of the poor without reducing disutility to the rest

of the community is sufficient.4

Atkinson contributing to the inequality concept of poverty gives the general

meaning of inequality to refer to “case where income and wealth are simply

different”. He argued that in order to assess the implication of the differences

in income, it is necessary to establish first, that people involved are

comparable in other relevant respect.

The definition of “relevant” is a mater of social judgement, but he lists some

important factors to include the following.

a. Resources and Need: The flow of income received by an individual or

the amount he consumes has to be viewed in relation to his needs, as

represented by such considerations as age, the size of his family and his
health. The distribution of income and wealth has therefore to be assessed

in the light of individual’s differences in needs.

b. Tastes and choices: Individuals differ in their tastes with regards to

work, Savings and risk taking. People with same opportunities may make

different decisions leading to disparities in observed income or wealth. A

person may prefer a job with low earnings, but short working hours and little

responsibility, while another may prefer to work for longer hours and earn

more. Invariably that person that works for longer hours and earns more will

save more wealth on retirement than one who prefers to consume the little

he has.

c. Age and life cycle. The distribution may be influenced by systematic

variation of income and wealth over a typical person’s life. One person may

be richer than another because he is older and had longer time to save.

Individuals may differ in the time that when they received their peak

incomes. One person may chose to go for low earning and accept training

to develop on the job.

d. Opportunity and income: The impact of random chance factors on the

distribution means that people who start out with same opportunities may

still end up with very different incomes.

Once it is established that people have comparable circumstances, attention

is focused on the causes of observed difference in income. Can the process

by which income is determined be justified as fair? The egalitarian theory of

justice may be concerned with the actual differences that are observed in

living standards and may see the causes as relevant only when they cast

light on possible means of reducing in –equality.5

2.3 Concept of Poverty

A concise and universally accepted definition of poverty is elusive largely

because it affects many aspects of human conditions, including physical,

moral and psychological. Different criteria have, therefore, been used to

conceptualize poverty. Most analysis follows the conventional view of poverty

as a result of insufficient income for securing basic goods and services. The

poor have also been conceptualized as the proportion of the population that

is unable to meet basic nutritional needs (Demery and squire).6

Blackwood and Lynch, identified the poor, using the criteria of the levels of

consumption and expenditure.7

Sen, related poverty to entitlements which are taken to be the various

bundles of goods and services over which one has command, taking into

cognizance the means by which such goods are acquired (for examples,

money and Coupons) and the availability of the needed goods.8 Yet, other

experts see poverty in very broad terms, such as being unable to meet “basic

needs” physical; food, health care, education, shelter etc.) and nonphysical;

participation, identity, etc. requirements for a meaningful life.9

Social science literature is replete with attempts by economist and social

scientists to conceptualize the four phenomena of poverty. Broadly, poverty

can be conceptualized in four ways: These are lack of access to basic needs

/ goods; a result of lack of or impaired access to productive resources;

outcome of inefficient use of common resources: and result of “exclusive

mechanisms”, Poverty as lack of access to basic needs /goods is essentially

economic or consumption oriented. It explains poverty in material terms and

specifically employs consumption-based categories to explain the extent and

depth of poverty, and establish who is and who is not poor are conceived as

those individuals or households in a particular society, incapable of

purchasing a specified basket of basic goods and services. Basic goods as

nutrition, shelter, housing, water healthcare, access to productive resources

including education, working skills and tools. Political and civil rights to

participate in decisions concerning socio-economic conditions. Streeten and

Birki,10. The first three are the basic needs/goods necessary for survival.

Impaired access to productive resources (agricultural land, physical capital

and financial assets) leads to absolute low income, unemployment,

undernourishment; e.t.c. inadequate endowment of human capital is also a

major cause of poverty. Generally, impaired access to resources shifts the

focus on poverty and it curtails the capability of individuals to convert

available productive resources to a higher quality of life. Sen,11

Poverty can also be the outcome of inefficient use of common resource. They

may result from weak policy environment, inadequate infrastructure, and

weak access to technology, credit and so on. Also, it can be due to certain

groups using certain mechanisms in the system to exclude “problem groups”

from participating in economic development, including the democratic

process. In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the agricultural sector was exploited

through direct and indirect taxation throughout the colonial and post –

colonial decades leading to poor growth performance of the sector,

heightened rural-urban Migration and employment crisis. In urban (SSA),

SILVER suggested three paradigms of exclusion: the individuals

specialization that cannot be accommodated in the factor market

(specialization paradigms) the various interest groups that establish control

over the input of variable resources, for example, on goods and labour

markets and simultaneously foster solidarity within the respective interest

groups (monopoly paradigms): and the individual which has a troubled

relationship with the community (solidarity paradigms).

Poverty can be structural (chronic) or transient. The former is defined as

persistent or permanent socio-economic deprivations and is linked to a host

of factors such as limited productive resources, lack of skills for gainful

employment, endemic socio-political and cultural factors and gender. The

latter on the other hand, is defined as transitory / temporary and is linked to

natural and man made disasters. Transient poverty is more reversible but

can become structural if it persists.

It is generally agreed that in conceptualizing poverty, low income or low

consumption is its symptom. This has been used for the construction of

poverty lines - values of income or consumption necessary to purchase the

minimum standard of nutrition and other necessities of life. People are

therefore counted poor when they measure their standard of living in terms

of income or consumption is below the conceived poverty line.Adeyeye.

2.4 Indicators of Poverty.

Indicators of poverty, in general focus on measures of economic

performance as well as the standard of living of the population. They thus

combine measures of income or purchasing power or consumption with

those social indicators which highlight availability and access to health care

delivery, education, basic infrastructure and access to other welfare –

enhancing facilities in order to define the incidence of poverty (how many

are poor), intensity or severity of poverty (how poor are they) and the

distribution of poverty within a population. According to Okohs.14

contemporary studies on poverty measurement concentrate

on three major issues, that is:

a. The determination of a yardstick for accessing living standard.

b. Definition a poverty line

c. Construction on appropriate poverty profile.

Setting or defining the poverty line, a tool for measuring poverty is usually

the starting point in poverty measurement. It is often based on income or

consumption data and represents the level of income that categorises the

household of a particular size, place and time into poor or non –poor

Nkom.15 It is also intended to designate equivalent levels of deprivation

Watt.16. According to the World Bank report Poverty lines can be set in

relative or absolute terms. Relative poverty assesses the position of an

individual or household in comparison with the average income in the

country, while absolute poverty is the position of an individual or household

in relation to a poverty line whose real value is fixed over time. Poverty lines

also establish the welfare comparability of nominal expenditure or income

across the poverty profile. Ravallion and Bidani.

According to Abdullahi, the criteria for measuring or assessing poverty

naturally vary from place to place according to the overall level of

development of the people. In some part of Nigeria poverty is measured in

terms of lack of ownership of fertile farmland, food, money and housing. In

some other parts the lack of infrastructural facilities such as access road,

pipe borne water, school, hospitals, electricity, telecommunication services

and agricultural services are attributed to poverty. At some other instances,

a common criterion is the total amount of earning that accrues to the

individual within, say, the year. He however, argued that in such a situation,
as we have in Nigeria, where income, particularly; salaries and wages, is not

responsive to inflation, the use of earning as an indicator of poverty may be

grossly misleading. He however, concluded that the purchasing power is a

better criterion for accessing poverty. Here, purchasing power is defined as

net income over a period of time normalized by the rate of inflation over the

same period. In Nigeria, the purchasing power of the citizens reached a peak

value in the mid 1970’s after which it underwent rapid decline until recently

when positive measures are recorded.

The standard of living is another important index employed in the distinction

between the poor and non-poor. It has two aspects; total household income

and the social milieu in which the household is situated. Data on expenditure

tend to be more reliable indicator of well being than income; these are

complemented with social indicators like life expectancy, infant morality,

nutrition, literary and access to primary education, health care and safe

drinking water. However, due o problems of aggregation and comparability,

most poverty lines are based solely on income or consumption data World

Bank, A study may define individual or multiple poverty and different

economic or environment condition. Gillespie.21 According to Abdullahi,22

parameters such as income size and purchasing power assess poverty at the
level of individual while the standard of living is better suited for assessing

poverty at the communal or national level. Indeed, disparity in the average

standard of living is a main distinguishing factor between the developed (or

rich) and developing (or poor) countries of the World. And that was the

reason that all purposeful governments continuously strive to improve and

raise the standard of living of its people by providing adequate infrastructural

facilities and social amenities.

Apart from using a poverty line, other poverty indices are used to measure

the incidence, intensity and severity of poverty. They include the headcount

index, the poverty gap index, and the squared poverty gap index.

The headcounts index computes the percentage of household with

consumption per capital below the poverty line. It measures the incidence

and magnitude of poverty. This index has the advantage of being easy to

compute and interpret. It does not, however, provide much information

about the depth or severity of poverty Gillespie, Ravallion and Bidani, 23

The poverty gap index measures the income shortfall below the poverty line.

That is, the amount required to bring the poor above the poverty line. It is

defined by the mean distance below the poverty line as a proportion of that
line. It measures the depth or intensity of poverty. Thus it has an advantage

over the headcount index. Ravallion and Bidani,24

The squared poverty – gap index devised by Foster, Greer and Thorbecke,25

is the mean of the squared proportionate poverty gaps formed over the

entire population counting the non-poor as having a zero poverty gap. The

index indicates the severity of poverty, in the sense that is sensitive to

inequality amongst the poor. Ravallion M and Sen B.26 This method is said

to be more computationally convenient in normalization, as it implies that

the aggregate measure across any number of subgroups is simply the

population weighted mean of the subgroup values of the poverty gap

The social indicators of poverty measure the availability and access to

health, education and welfare facilities as well as basic infrastructure. The

health indicators include those of life expectancy at birth, mortality rates

across the age-segments of the population. Prevalence of malnutrition,

percentage of the population with access to healthcare, safe water and

sanitation. They also include the number of hospital beds and physicians per

unit of population, availability of reproductive health facilities and access to

child immunization. For education, the ratios computed are literacy rates,

gross and net enrolment ratios at the primary, secondary and tertiary
educational levels disaggregated by gender and expressed as percentage of

the relevant age group within the population. Measures of basic

infrastructure include supply of electric power, telephones, paved roads,

railway, and air traffic e.t.c. per unit population.

2.5 Measurement of Poverty.

Just as there is difficulty in defining poverty, there is also difficulty in its

measurement. The difficulty arises from the different methods of

measurement and the factors and ingredients that should be considered in

measuring it. Survey has been the popular means of ascertaining the level

of poverty across a country or region.

Ravallion and Sen,27 have however identified several problems associated

with the survey data especially for poor countries for comparison across

countries. These problems are summarized as follows:

a. Official exchange rates, as an indicator for comparing absolute levels

of living is deceptive in making purchasing-power-parity. Currency

conversion is not easy; this is because purchasing-power parity exchange

rate varies widely with implication for international comparisons of poverty

rates.
b. Different survey-based Measures of living standard gives different

result. Some use income while others use consumption. An income –based

survey measure is bound to show higher inequality than the one based on

consumption.

c. Questionnaires used in income surveys also contribute to difficulties of

accurate measurement of poverty. A question such as ‘what is your income

from self – employment? Is difficult to answer. A convincing questionnaire

requires a careful and complete accounting of revenue and cost in the

household enterprise.

d. Survey quality varies, so that even seemingly similar surveys might not

be comparable. This could be a serious problem for cross-country

comparison of the levels of income and summary of measures based on their

distribution.

2.6 Cause of Poverty in Nigeria

There are a number of factors that contribute to increased poverty in

Nigeria. These are summarized below:

a. Effects of Globalization
The process of globalization which started about a decade and a half ago

caught Nigeria in the throes of political instability. The main features of

globalization process include liberalization of trade. Free movement of capital

and accelerated development information technology. Globalization provides

windows of opportunity if the indices of development (interest and exchange

rates, terms of trade, tariff e.t.c.) are on the positive and favourable scale.

In Nigeria however, by the middle of the eighties, public infrastructure and

utility had gone into serious dilapidation. The road network was in bad shape,

schools and hospitals deteriorated. Telecommunication and power supply

become very erratic. As a result of petroleum related activities, agriculture

was relegated to the background and those that remained in it, were

operating at substance level and characterized by the following:

i. Collapsing and uncompetitive sector activities (30%) surviving in the

last 10 years.

ii. Rapid growth in unemployment, underemployment and poverty (about

60% among the youths aged 14-25 years) translating into 3 million jobless

persons entering the labour market annually.

iii. Social instability and intolerance (ethnic Nationalities and religious

friction)

iv. Hyper inflation.

v. Unstable interests and exchange rate. vi. Low productivity and

vii. Endemic corruption, greed and avarice.

Given the Nigeria’s political and socio-economic disposition globalization

presented more challenges to the country as it lacks what it takes to be

relevant or even adopt or cope with it. Until the country can achieve certain

level of good governance, a revamped industrial base, modest economic

growth, fairly efficient public infrastructure and utilities, Nigeria shall remain

at the receiving end of globalization.

b. Governance

Bad governance over the years had deprived Nigerians of the ideals and

dividends of democracy. It is the objective of the government of Nigeria to

top through democratic process, the energy and creative talents of the

people and harness the nations’ resources to enhance the welfare of the

citizenry. This is with a mission to create a dynamic economy and establish

a free, democratic and just society through the pursuit of people centered
programmes. The process will facilities and consistently cultivate a style of

governance that places premium on openness, transparency and

accountability, probity and effective leadership.

c. Corruption

Corruption comes in different forms and differs from country to country. In

Africa, illegal take over of government through military coup, embezzlement,

nepotism, looting, bribery, vote buying and abuse of office are very common.

For instance, it is a common practice for top government jobs to be filled

with cronies who serve as conduit pipes to siphon public money to foreign

accounts of some top government functionaries. Such monies are often kept

in secret accounts in Switzerland. Nigeria is rank among the most corrupt

countries in the world. The corrupt practices in Nigeria range from extortion

by public functionaries to advance fee fraud. At the National level, there is

hardly any form of service that would be rendered without giving or receiving

undue favours and gratification. Access to public infrastructure such as high

ways, admissions into schools and even hospital was possible only through

corrupt practices. Payments have to be made to the security operators for

bails and police cells, guarantee fees are also being demanded from

consumers of power and telecommunication services. Promotion in some

work place is based on payment by deserving officers. At the international

scene, credit card racket, breach of business trust, false identities are the

stock in trade of many Nigeria as abroad. The sum total effect is that

corruption has wiped out the goodwill that usually sustains good business

relationship and also weakened the basis of patriotism necessary for

development.

Through corrupt practices the bulk of the nations wealth have been

distributed in favour of the few privileged to the detriment of the majority of

Nigerians who are now wallowing in abject poverty. A mechanism of

entrusting public responsibility of Nigerians need to be evolved.

d. Debt Burden

Debt burden has been one of drawbacks to Nigerian’s developmental efforts.

The debt portfolio which was slightly above US$14.28 billion dollars in 1980

rose to about US$30 billion in the year 2000. The servicing of the debt has

encroached on the volume or resources needed for socio-economic

development as it is estimated that around 40 percent of Nigerian’s national

income goes to debts servicing payment. The high debt services ratio
translate into resource constraint needed for such public infrastructures and

utilities as:

i. Hospitals ii. Schools

iii. Power supply and portable water iv. Roads (urban and rural)

Productive sectors of the economy like agriculture, industry, manufacturing

etc. are equally constrained leading to low productivity, low capacity

utilization, under employment and low purchasing power thereby throwing

majority of Nigerian into abject poverty.

e. Unemployment

Unemployment in Nigerian assumed crisis level in the late 80s and early 90s

especially among school leavers and graduates of tertiary institutions. A

survey carried out by the centre for investment, sustainable development,

management and environment in 1998 gave the features as follows:

i. Over 80% of the unemployed are relatively unskilled primary and

secondary leaves between ages of 13-25 years.

ii. Graduate unemployment which hitherto was unnoticed started to

emerge in mid 80s. The following influences the rising graduate’s

unemployment.

a. Nigerians had a total enrolment of about 600.000 students in 149

tertiary institutions

1996/97 academic year.

b. There were 123,000 graduates in the 1995/96 session and about

130, 000 graduates in 1996/97.

c. Cumulatively, Nigeria produced a total of 1,110,000 graduates from

tertiary

institutions and.

d. About 10% i.e. 100,000 got formal jobs, over one million might be

openly unemployed or underemployed.

The unemployment situation was further worsened by the primary schools,

secondary schools and colleges dropouts and retrenched workers due to the

closure of many industries. Although there are no reliable data for these
unemployed, it has roughly been estimated to be over 5.0 million. All these

unemployment worsened the high level of poverty recorded by FOS.28

f. High Population Growth Rate

Statistics shows that in 1980, Nigeria population was about 65 million, it rose

to 88 million in 1991 and further increased to 102.3 million in 1996. it is

estimated that the Nigerian population is currently about 120 million going

by the 1991 population census. This increase in population has over –

stretched the basic social and infrastructural facilities as well as public goods

in the face of dwindling National resources. A situation in which population

growth average 2.83 against GPD growth rate of 2.7% meant that resources

meant for investment are consumed with little left for development thereby

reinforcing the vicious cycle of poverty.

2.7 Approaches To Poverty Alleviation

A question that has perplexed development economist for decades is. Why

is Africa so poor? There were basically two lines of thinking in the 1950s and

early 1960s. The first focuses mainly on “stages of economic growth”. The

idea was that development could be seen as a series of successive stages

through which all countries must pass. Africa is therefore, poor because this
is a necessary stage that she must go through. It is therefore argued that

today’s advanced Nations have been there and Africa can become advanced

too with the right mixture of savings, investment and foreign aid.

The second line of thought emphasizes external and internal institutional

constraints on economic development. This approach often called

‘structuralism” argued that African countries are best by a host of

institutional and structural economic rigidities, apart from being caught up

in the dependence and dominance relationship to rich countries. This groups

led by Latin American economists view poverty as a result of a dependence

relationship in which one group of countries is conditioned by the

development and expansion of others. What is needed, according to the

structuralisms are to emphasize the structural and institutional reform that

would eradicate poverty, create jobs, reduce inequalities and bring about a

rise in the standard of living of the people.

There is a third line of thinking that has emerged in the 1980s and, this new

group looks at the reality on the ground and does not ask why Africa is so

poor rather what can be done to fight poverty in these Nations. Foremost

amongst the group is the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

This agency has been able to grasp the functional definition of poverty, the

strategies to eradicates poverty, including instituting a framework

that permits the establishment and sustainability of good economic

policies.30

Three main strategies are identifiable in the process of tackling poverty

namely:

a. Exclusive reliance on the natural forces of economic growth

b. Specific programmes to increase earning opportunities for the poor.

c. Social programmes targeting the poor. Each of these proposals holds

varying prospects for poverty alleviation. Targeting the poor by means of

social programmes is the most direct approach followed by the consideration

of specific programmes to enhance their earning capacity. These have direct

and immediate impact on poverty reducing. In practice the problem with

these strategies is that there is a possibility that the benefits may leak to

unintended groups. Administratively, they could also be expensive to

implement, inefficient in operation and outcome and lack sustainability.

Furthermore, any redistribution of income from the non-poor to the poor

may be at some cost. For instance it may result in a limitation on savings

which may lead to retarded economic growth Onah.31

The economic growth strategy is an indirect approach to poverty alleviation.

It is aimed at achieving an untargeted general increase in income, which it

is believed, will invariably lift the average poor above the poverty line. In the

short run, income distribution may be positively skewed but the assumption

is that, in the long run, through trickledown effects poverty reduction, both

in absolute and relative senses will be achieved. This approach is noted in

the economic efficiency criterion and therefore has the possibility of

sustainability. Also in as much as the reliance is on the natural forces of

economic growth.

The strategies can be said to be devoid of any extensive administrative

machinery and would probably cost less to implement. Poverty eradication

through growth has been challenged as an effective means of tackling

poverty both in the short and long run. The growth strategy according to

Onah.32 would take more than three decades to achieve the intended

objectives, a period considered too long and therefore, too expensive a

policy option to be adopted by any government.

In the 1970s when the basic needs approach hold sway, there was spread

disillusionment with the trickledown effects of growths on poverty, and since

the second half of the 1980s when most African counties have been

implementing a growth centre macroeconomic adjustment programmes, it

is generally believed that the programmes disproportionately hurts the

poor. A conclusion reached by Demery and Savire.33 from their empirical

evidence on African countries however, is that the apparent ineffectiveness

of the adjustment programmes in tackling poverty was due to poor policy

implementation. They believe that effective reform programmes will result

in reducing overall poverty, while inadequate policy implementation would

give rise to worsening poverty.

In the same vein Chinsman,34 is of the view that, the poverty situation in

Nigeria has been aggravated by the absence of an enabling policy

environment and sudden changes in macro-economic policies in recent

times.

Chinsman holds the view that the contemporary growth progress in Nigerian

does not hold much prospect for poverty eradiation. He argues thus:
Nigeria has clearly demonstrated that the hitherto held view that poverty

could be tackled by raising general economic standard through “trickledown”

effect of economic growth is faulty…. It is now clear that there is little sense

in maintaining “growth while allowing the bulk of the population to remain

impoverished. Jobless, handicapped and excluded from the development

process.

An Indian activist once observed that when people felt that they have the

freedom to think, act and relate to each other, they take on a lot of

responsibility; this of course is the essence of participation.

In conclusion, it is important to reiterate that “top-down” planning and

poverty reduction strategies adopted in Nigerian since independence appear

to have increased poverty in the country, instead of reducing it. This

therefore, makes a “bottom up” poverty reduction strategy in which the poor,

themselves, must be involved is a matter of urgent necessity. Once the poor

become aware that trust is placed in them, they will begin to assumed

responsibility.
2.8 Theoretical Framework

Administrators usually prefer to think of themselves as “men of action”

perhaps they are. But one thing is certain, that every decision arrived at by

such men of public affairs is informed by their own “theories or model” of

the phenomenon (or the social problem) to which the policy and measures

deriving from it are addressed. And this is so even when the administrators

fail to make explicit the theoretical basis of the decision. It is so even when

they themselves are not fully and consciously aware of the models that they

are using. Furthermore, any policy decision is only as good as the model,

which has inflamed its formulation and wrong models of problem can

produce only wrong ‘ diagnosis’ of it and wrong decisions as to how to deal

with it.

It has been argued that neither economists nor social scientist have

developed a policy oriented theory of poverty. Akeredolu -Ale and Eddozen

E.C.36 argued that poverty should be concerned with the identification of

forces which govern and determine the pattern of ownership of the factors

of production. Indeed, it is the pattern that determines the structure of inter-

personal and inter –group differences in individual income and wealth in any

society. Any theory of poverty should explain the emergence, distribution

and persistence of specific handicaps, which characterize the situation of the

poor. For developing countries like Nigeria, a theory of poverty should be

able to account for the escalation of poverty in situation of aggregate

economic progress and resource abundance.

Theories developed by social scientist to explain the existence of poverty in

societies tend to be more concerned with inequality than with poverty.

You cannot study any subject orderly and systematically without using a

conceptual framework. The conceptual framework guides the study; it is just

like a builder, building with a plan. Models or conceptual framework or

theoretical framework is a simplified version of reality. It is a caricature of

reality. All the features of reality are represented there. Anytime we are

engaged in a study of this nature, that is, in analysis of our theoretical

framework.

Whether for practical purpose or for academic interests, we must use

conceptual models. The use of models enables the study to be orderly and

systematic. It enables the study to have a focus and it simplifies the process

involved.
Thomas Dye in his book “understanding public policy has presented or

described several such models which can be used separately or in

combination. This models includes the rationality model, instrumentalist

model, institutionalist model, systems theory along with the vicious circle of

poverty and economic constraints.37

However, for the purpose of this study, the systems and vicious circle

theories are used. The combination is necessary because it will give a better

understanding of the poverty situation in Nigeria. It is important to state

here clearly that all but the systems theory along with the vicious circle can

be appreciated in explaining the poverty situation in Nigeria. They are

interrelated so to appreciate it better, only one of these theories might not

be adequate to explain the causes of poverty especially for the purpose of

this work. However, the system theory along with the vicious circle will be

used for the theoretical framework of this study. According to this theory,

public policy can be conceived as a response of a political system to forces

brought to bear upon it from the environment. Forces generated in the

environment which affect the political system are viewed as input, such as

low income. The environment is any condition or circumstances defined as

external to the boundaries of the political system. The political system is that
group of interrelated structures and processes which functions

authoritatively to allocate values for a society. Outputs of the political system

are authoritative value allocation of the system and this allocation result to

low investment, low savings because of the income situation as the input.

The system theory is further explained with the aid of a diagram thus:

The systems model

Figure 1

Environment Environment

The Processing Unit

I Demand and support Decision The political System or and action O
N Government Agencies. U

U T From the masses/public Inform of programmes On P

poverty i.e NAPEP U
P T

S T
S

YES, CAP, MAP, Training for skills acquisition

Environment Environment

Source: David Easton.

When one looks at the poverty situation in Nigerian in terms of it causative

and necessary remedy, one tends to appreciate the system theory.

According to the theory, the structure of political power in any society is the

determinant of the extent and distribution of poverty among the populace.

Poverty is seen as the necessary features of any situation where the few

posses so much power that they can organize economic system in their own

selfish interest. And that poverty will remain prevalent as long as there is no

effective pressure from below to restructure the distribution of political

power in the society in favour of the majority. Accordingly, how effective the

exploiting class will entrench and perpetuate the system will depend on the

revolutionary consciousness of the subject class or their organizational

capacity to resist exploitation and to overthrow the oppressive poverty

system and on what happens to these overtime.

First Nigeria is poor nor because it is a poor country, Nigeria is a very rich

country, and the country is blessed with human and natural resources.

Nigeria has earned more than $250 million? Considering the huge amount of

money, every Nigeria suppose to live as a rich man. But irony is the case,
few continue to become riches and majority continues to become

impoverished the more.

The few who have access to the resources of the country have continued to

enrich themselves and their cohorts in detriment to the generality of the

populace. One will wonder that a country like Nigeria where many cannot

afford three square meal per day, some few have billions of Naira in their

local and foreign accounts.

Even if there is any effort to assist the poor through poverty eradication

programmes such assistance hardly reaches the targeted poor. The few who

are in possession of power will still hijack it for their own selfish interest. As

such, the poor become poorer and the rich become richer. This is the

situation in Nigeria.

Any attempt to challenge the status quo is seen as an attempt to over throw

or sabotage the government efforts. Those few that found themselves in

position of power have continued to organize.

Vicious Circle Theory

Vicious circle theory posits that ‘ poverty breads poverty” That a community,

a region or an economy “ is poor because it is poor”, The individual is trapped

in a vicious circle being poor, he lacks the basic means of livelihood to break

out of poverty, thus he remains poor. Like the individual, the economy at

large, can be trapped in a vicious circle. Such an economy has a low per

capital income due to low productivity of resources, which in turn, result in

low per capital income. At the individual level, low income, low savings and

low investment which results to low productivity. As the 1964 economic

report of the president of the United States, Lyndon Braines Johnson

succinctly puts it’.

A poor individual or family has a high probability of

staying poor. Low income carry with them high risks

of illness, limitations on mobility, limited access to

education, information and training. Poor parents

cannot give their children the opportunities for better

health and education needed to improve their lot.

Lack of motivation, hope and incentive is a more

subtle but a no less powerful barrier than lack of

financial means. Thus, the cruel legacy of poverty is

passed from parent to children. (McConnell,)38.

 One of the simplest variants of the vicious circle of poverty is illustrated
below. It is a reflection of an economy of deprivation in which a group of citizens
lack access to ‘a good life’ which is their own right.

The vicious circle of poverty and economic constraint

Figure 2
Low income

Limited Low savings

capacity to

Low level of Low investment

output

Low Shortage of
productivity employment

Source: Adapted from Iniodu, 39 pp. 96-97.

In this study, poverty is referred to as a situation where individual youth are

living with low income, unemployed i.e. lack gainful employment and access

to few or no socio-economic amenities such as power supply, safe drinking

water, good road and communication networks due to his/her residence in

either rural area or marginalized sub-urban area. Albeit, there are many

projects and interventions under the NAPEP programme since its inception,

this research work intends to examine the contribution of

Keke-Napep project on the individual beneficiaries’/operators’ standard of

living or economic livelihood

 CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

1.1 Area of study

The area of study is Ojokoro Local Government Area of Lagos State., Nigeria.

Lagos State was one of the oldest states created in Nigeria and former capital

of Nigeria, as one of the first of twelve states to replace the nation’s three

regions and Ojokoro is a local government in the state. The total land mass

of Lagos State today is more than 3,577 (km2) square kilometers. The state

is known as the State of Harmony on account of the peaceful co-existence

among its multicultural, religious and diverse population of over 9 million,

according to the last population census in the country by National Population

Commission (NPC), 2006 albeit the current population of the state is more

than this figure. The state has 20 local government areas, LGAs. The main

economic livelihood of the inhabitants in the state comprises of agriculture,

civil service and trading.

3.2 Research Design

Survey research method was adopted in this study. According to Aina and

Ajiferike (2002) survey research involves a systematic and comprehensive

collection of information about opinions, attitudes, feelings, beliefs and

behaviors of the people. In study the impact of KEKE- NAPEP on alleviation

of poverty, In survey research, since only the opinions of subjects were

analyzed without any manipulation of independent variables.

3.3 Method of data analysis

For this present study both primary and secondary data were employed.

Primary data were collected through questionnaire and discussion was

equally used with the beneficiaries of the Keke-Napep project. Paired-

samples t-test was employed to answer the research question and

hypothesis of the study

3.4 Sample size

One hundred and three (103) respondents were chosen using simple random

sampling technique. This would necessitate the researcher to visit different

stations/parking of keke-Napep operation in ojokoro LGA. Meanwhile,

secondary data would be collected via journals, internet as well as

government publications, the research work is much more towards

quantitative in nature.
3.5 Validity and Reliability of instruments

According to Keyton (2001), data obtained through measurements that are

not valid are worthless data. Reliability of an instrument is the degree of its

stability, trustworthiness and consistency. Reliability is concerned with the

consistence with which an instrument measures whatever it is supposed to

measure, validity is related to ensuring that the instrument actually measures

what is supposed to measure (Lawal, 2009).Hence, to ensure validity and

reliability of questionnaire, face validity was carried out.

 CHAPTER FOUR

DATA PRESENTATION AND RESULT

Socio-economic characteristics of the respondents

The relevant demographic characteristics of the keke-napep operators are
investigated and presented in table 1 below.

Table 1: Distribution of Respondents by Socio-economic Characteristics

Variables Frequency Percentage of Total

Gender:
Male 99 96.1

Female 4 3.9

Age:
18-30 48 46.6
31-40 35 34.0

41-50 20 19.4

Marital Status:
Married 72 69.9
Single 23 22.3
Divorce 7 6.8
Widow 1 1.0
Size of Household:
Below 6 48 46.6
6-10 45 43.7
Above 10 10 9.7

Education:
Primary 21 20.4
Secondary 55 53.4
NCE/OND 20 19.4
B.sc./HND 7 6.8

Sponsorship:
Government 65 63.1
Bank 26 25.2
Individual 5 4.9
Self 7 6.8

Mode of Payment:
Full 34 33.0
Instalment 68 66.0
Other 1 1.0

Duration of Involvement (Years):

Less than 1 year 55 53.4
1-2 years 41 39.8
2-3 years 4 3.9
3 years above 3 2.9

Total 103 100.0

Source: Field Survey 2019 by the author.

In table 1, the investigation in the study revealed that males99 (96.1%) are

characterized gender involvement in the keke-napep operation as compared

to the females 4 (3.9%) in the study area. This is not surprising as males

usually many as transporters in the society than females. In the age range,

the respondents that fall between the age range 18-30 years are 48 (46.6%),

followed by age ranges of 31-40 and 41-50 years with 35 (34.0%) and 20

(19.4%) respondents, respectively. It indicates that the majority of the keke-

napep operators are within the age range of 18-30 years which, is the normal

period to complete education. More so, findings show that most respondents

are married 72 (69.9%) and very rear to find widow 1 (1.0%) among the

operators. This implies that most operators were married without secured or

reasonable job to discharge their marital responsibilities. The size of

household of the respondents indicates that 46.6% have small family size of

less than six (6) members and 9.7% have large family size of more than ten

(10) members. This distribution of demographic information revealed the

magnitude of dependence on respondents/operators.

In terms of education qualification, majority of the respondents are low

certificate holders with 73.8% and minority of them are high certificate

holders with 26.2%. This connotes that large number of the operators

involved in keke-napep operation/project are less educated in Kwara state,

Nigeria. The operation/project of keke-napep is therefore equally shown a

positive sign or direction towards attaining its national goal of alleviating

poverty among the less privileged and illiterates in Lagos state, Nigeria.

Furthermore, the study reveals that government (63.1%) is a major sponsor

of keke-napep project, followed by bank (25.2%), self (6.8%) and individual

(4.9%) hierarchically sponsoredkeke-napep project in lagos state, Nigeria.

This substantiates that government is the main creator of the project under

the auspices of National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP). It is also

revealed in the table 1 that majority of the respondents (66.0%) are paid for

their keke-napep tricycle by instalment while the remaining 33.0%

respondents paid in full to acquire the tricycle. Most respondents (93.2%)

have been involved in this tricycle project/operation in less than two years

while the remaining respondents (6.8%) have been involved in more than

two years. This implies that most respondents have not spent sufficient years

in the operation to ensure meaningful change in their standard of living.

Table 2: Distribution based on Monthly Income Before and After Keke-napep
Involvement

Income Frequency Percentage in Total

Before After Before After

Below N6,000:00 31 8 30.1 7.8

N6,000:00-N10,000:00 37 22 55.9 21.4
N11,000:00-N15,000:00 25 38 24.3 36.9
N16,000:00-N20,000:00 4 16 3.9 15.5
Above N20,000:00 6 19 5.8 18.

Total 103 103 100.0 100.0

Source: Field Survey 2019 by the author.

Table 2 shows improvement in the income earned by the

respondents/operators before and after their involvement in the keke-napep

operation. Many respondents are earning income per day more than one

dollar ($1) designed as dollar poverty line and food poverty line according to

the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS in Nigeria Poverty Profile 2010.

Although these poverty lines required adjustment as the general prices of

goods and services are rising in the economy, causing the income earned

from this keke-napep operation to be insufficient to survive on by the

respondents particularly those that are married and/or have large family

members.
Table 3: Distribution based on Respondents’ Perception of the Contribution, Assessment and Problem Encountered of
Keke-napep

Standard of Living Frequency Percentage in Total

Substantial Improvement 50 48.5

Moderate Improvement 43 41.7

No Improvement 10 9.7

Project/Operation

Satisfactory 87 84.5
Not Satisfactory 11 10.7
Don’t Know 5 4.9

Problem

Lacking Access to Loan 15 14.6

High Interest Rate on Loan 0 0.0

Mode of Payment 88 85.4

Total 103 100.0

Source: Field Survey 2019 by the author.

Table 3 above shows that living standard of the respondents (90.2%)

improved while the living standard of the remaining respondents (9.7%)

showed no sign of improvement. In other words, most

respondents/operators believed that the tricycle operation make their lives

better off. This implies that keke-napep project/operation contribute

significantly to the livelihood of the respondents in the study area. This

equally reflects their assessment on keke-napep as 84.5% respondents

satisfied with the project against 15.5% respondents that are not satisfied

with the project/operation. Similarly, mode of payment (85.4%) of

purchasing/acquiring keke-napep posed major problem to the

respondents/operators and the problem of lacking access to loan (14.6%)

while the respondents don’t see high rate of interest on loan as problem.

Table 4: Paired-Samples t-test Analysis of the Income before and after the
Involvement in Keke-napep on Standard of Living of the Respondents
Paired Samples Statistics
Mean N Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean

Pair 1 resp. monthly income earned 2.1942 103 1.09418 .10781

before keke-napep involvement
operation

resp. monthly income earned

after keke-napep involvement 3.1553 103 1.18617 .11688
operation

Paired Samples Test

Paired Differences t df Sig.
(2tailed)
Mean Std. Std. Error 95% Confidence Interval of
Deviation Mean the Difference

Lower Upper

Pair 1 resp. monthly income -.96117 1.23608 .12179 -1.20274 -.71959 -7.892 102 .000
earned before keke-
napep involvement
operation - resp. monthly
income earned after
keke-napep involvement
operation

Table 4 shows the result of the paired-samples t-test. The significance

value of the test is 0.0001 which is less than 0.05 therefore we can
conclude that there is a significant difference between the income earned

before and after the involvement of the respondents in the keke-napep

operation. Similarly, the mean scores of the respondents’ monthly incomes

earned before keke-napep involvement operation is 2.19 while the mean

scores of the respondents’ monthly income earned after keke-

napepinvolvement operation is 3.16. Based on this result, therefore we can

conclude that there was a significant increase in income earned before and

after the involvement in keke-napep operation.

A paired-samples t-test was conducted to evaluate the contribution of the

involvement in keke-napep on the respondents’ scores on the income

earned. There was a statistically significant increase in income earned from

before (M=2.19, SD=1.09) to after (M=3.16, SD=1.19), t (102)=7.89,

p˂.0005 (two-tailed). The mean increase in income earned was 0.96 with

a 95% confidence interval ranging from 1.20 to 0.72.

The eta squared statistic (0.38) indicated a large effect size.

 CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 CONCLUSIONS

Keke-napep project/operation is a proper instrument for poverty alleviation

in the area of study. The study showed that most operators of keke-napep

in ojokoro LGA of Lagos state benefited significantly from their involvement

coupled with evident improvement in their standard of living via increase in

their income earned, although there are some constraints to this operation

such as mode of payment as well as lacking access to loan by the operators.

5.2 RECOMMENDATION

The followings are recommended to enhance the project/operation of keke-

napep thus reducing poverty level in the state.

Government ought to assist more in the area of mode of payment so

that it can be ease for the operators to complete their payment for the

tricycle, part of what that can be done is to provide sufficient loan/credit

facility with relatively low rate of interest to the operators.

Banks should also be encouraged more in the sponsorship of keke-

napep project/operation in the study area likewise individuals should be

encouraged to take part in the business of keke-napep tricycle intra-city

transportation.

Government should also establish proper training centres for the

operators of keke-napep couple with accessible and motorable road

network so that more passengers would have confidence and safe in using

them as a mean of local transportation in the study area.