Exclusive: President Tinubu Earmarks N1 Billion To Buy Tricycles (Keke Napep) For Only 800 Nigerians Out Of Over Poor 70 Million Citizens

Secret Reporters

Data obtained from the 2022 supplementary budget have shown that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Led administration earmarked the sum of one billion naira for the supply of Tricycles (Keke Napep) to the underprivileged in society.

The documents failed to detail the total number of persons that the amount is set to cover as well as the parameters with which the government will decide who is underprivileged and who is not.

A survey of market prices by SecretReporters revealed that the price for a Tricycles (Keke Napep) in Nigeria is one million and two hundred thousand naira only (N1,200,000).

Going by this revelation, the budgeted amount of one billion naira can only be used to secure 800 tricycles for underprivileged Nigerians.

Considering that 63% of persons living within Nigeria (133 million people) are multidimensionally poor, it becomes a source of worry how the president hopes to determine who qualifies for the initiative.

It is also unclear how the Tinubu government aims to empower 800 underprivileged Nigerians, as the government does not have a database to pull such information from.

Since his emergence as the President of Nigeria, Tinubu, whose reign is being contested by Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, has reeled out a host of policies that have been adjudged to be “suffocating” the masses.

For instance, the removal of the fuel subsidy, which has aggravated the hardship in the nation, has continued to receive backlash nationwide.

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Recall that during his inauguration on 29 May, 2023, Tinubu announced the removal of fuel subsidy in the country.

The President had also gone ahead to reel out a host of other policies that have continued to divide opinions and gotten tongues wagging across the nation. 

Meanwhile, the move by Tinubu to empower 800 underprivileged Nigerians raises concerns that this is another conduit for his government to divert funds, especially since there are no details on who qualifies for the initiative and how he hopes to achieve it without maligning any region of the country as evident in his appointments so far.