INVESTIGATION: How Multiple Levies Are Pushing Kwara’s Tricycle Businesses to the Brink
ILORIN, Nigeria- About three years ago before hike in transportation tax and levies Abdullahi Olawale Solihu said the tricycle transport business gave him enough income to feed his family, meet his daily needs and still put something back into another business. Solihu who is a tricycle rider and father of two kids used to pay about N200 daily in taxes and levies, but now pays N1,000 daily. The payments, according to him, include the KWRS revenue ticket and the Association ticket, without additional charges attached to his daily operation.
“During this time, our tax was N200 and now it is N1,000. Making N 24,000 we are paying for a mouth,” Solihu said. “What was once a modest business with hopes of growth, is increasingly becoming a struggle to survive.” He added.
For years, tricycle transport was considered a viable business in Kwara State, providing daily income for operators and supporting thousands of households. For many riders, buying or operating a tricycle offered a pathway to self-employment in a state long associated with civil service jobs. The business also became an important part of Ilorin’s transport system, connecting communities and providing affordable mobility for residents. But the economics of the business have changed sharply as fuel prices, taxes, levies, maintenance costs and other operating expenses continue to rise.
Today, what was once seen as a dependable source of livelihood is becoming a daily struggle for survival.
As the cost of running a tricycle rises, operators are forced to increase fares, passing part of the pressure to passengers and adding to the wider cost of transportation in Kwara.
With slight increment, it’s unlike in some neighbouring states where tricycle transport can attract higher fares, riders in Ilorin often operate on comparatively low fares, giving passengers what may feel like an almost inexpensive ride. But behind that affordable journey is a painful struggle that many commuters rarely see. Before the first passenger enters, the rider has already spent money on fuel, taxes, levies, maintenance and, in many cases, vehicle instalments. At the end of the day, what appears to be a busy and profitable business may leave the rider with barely enough to feed his family.
What looks like a cheap ride to one person may represent another person’s entire day of sweat, sacrifice and struggle to keep his family alive.
Interviews with transporters, passengers and research confirmed that recent hike in daily tax and levies that suppose to help the small business to grow has become an obstacle. “Unnecessary and unexplained additional levies by road transporters’ associations made it worst”, said by Solihu. He added that, “the levies has become burden on us, struggle to meet up with daily installmental payment, children school fees and house utilities and sustainability. He continued, government did not pity us by introducing new initiatives that serve as brink to our business, PMS price has becoming increasingly since subsidy removal, we are paying triple of electricity tariff now and my children school fees has become higher.”
He added, ” before this hike in tax and high cost of maintenance, if I work a full day, I used to earn around N20,000 daily and with the prices of foods, house utilities, and school then is considered sufficient for me that I was able to make investment but now it is with struggle I will have take home of N8,000 and the profit did not cover my basic needs as a family man”.
Too Much Struggle, Too Little Income-Transporters
For tricycle riders in Ilorin, the road to survival is becoming harder every day. What was once a means of earning a living and supporting a family has, for many riders, become a daily struggle between fuel costs, taxes, levies, vehicle instalments and the basic cost of feeding their families.
Interviews conducted for this investigation show that the removal of the petrol subsidy and the growing burden of daily payments have sharply reduced what riders take home at the end of the day. For some, the question is no longer how much they can earn, but whether anything will remain after the day’s expenses.
Zakariyau Nafiu, a tricycle rider, spoke with visible frustration about what he described as the disappearance of direct economic relief for ordinary Nigerians. He argued that the petrol subsidy was one of the few government interventions whose benefit people could feel directly in their pockets, even though it also had significant fiscal costs and was not a sustainable long-term policy.
“The only benefit we can directly trace from government to us commoners is this subsidy,” Nafiu said. “Other social amenities are not free even though government claims they are. School fees, school materials and uniforms, we pay for them. It is the same thing at the hospital and other places. Yet they have increased the tax we are paying to N1,000 daily.”
Nafiu’s complaint reflects a broader frustration among riders who say they are being asked to contribute more to government revenue while receiving little visible relief from the rising cost of keeping their businesses alive. “Sometimes it is very hard to eat from the money,” he said.
The pressure is even more severe for riders who purchased their tricycles through instalment arrangements. Abdullahi, another rider interviewed for this investigation, said some operators have been forced to use money meant for feeding and household expenses to meet their repayment obligations.
“Some people even use their personal money to cover the instalment payments,” Abdullahi said.
The economics are unforgiving. A rider may spend heavily on petrol, maintenance and instalment payments before accounting for food, rent, school expenses and other family needs.
When taxes and levies are added to those costs, the amount left at the end of the day can become dangerously small. For a household dependent on daily income, a bad day on the road can immediately translate into less food, unpaid bills or delayed school expenses.
The Mystery of the Daily Tickets
Our investigation also raised a separate question about the difference between the approved charge on a revenue ticket and the amount actually demanded from riders.
Information obtained during the reporting, alongside the tickets examined by this investigation, indicates that the amounts officially stated on the tickets may differ from what some riders are required to pay. Where a ticket carries an approved amount but a higher amount is demanded without a clear legal basis, the additional payment raises questions about its authorisation, collection and destination.
Riders told this investigation that they are required to obtain two daily tickets, one associated with KWRS and another with TOAN. According to the riders and tickets examined during our reporting, each ticket carries a stated value of N200 but is reportedly sold to riders for N500. That means a rider paying for both tickets spends N1,000 a day, even before accounting for fuel, maintenance and other operating expenses.
The discrepancy raises an important question that authorities must answer: if the official value of each ticket is N200, why are riders paying N500 for each, and under what legal authority is the additional N300 collected?
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This is not merely a question of N300. Multiplied across hundreds or thousands of riders and across hundreds of working days, even a seemingly small unexplained charge can become a significant financial burden on a low-income workforce.
The government and the organisations involved in the collection should therefore provide a clear breakdown of these charges. Who authorised them? What service does each payment represent? Who collects the additional amount? Into whose account does the money go? Are riders issued official receipts for the full amount they pay?
To answer these questions, this investigation sought the position of the Kwara State Revenue Service (KWRS). We wrote to the agency requesting an interview and clarification on the additional charges, including the difference between the amount stated on the tickets and the amount riders are reportedly required to pay. However, the request was not granted as the agency had not responded to our inquiry as of the time of filing this report.
A revenue collector, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak publicly on the matter, however, told this investigation that “that is the amount we are asked to collect from the riders.” The collector did not explain who authorised the additional payment or where the extra N300 collected on each ticket goes.
Transporters Begin to Push Back as Some Leave Kwara.
When the cost of running a business continues to rise while income remains under pressure, operators are often left with difficult choices: absorb the losses, find ways to reduce the burden or leave the market altogether. The experience of some tricycle operators in Kwara appears to be reflecting this pattern.
Our investigation found that some groups of transporters are beginning to organise themselves and engage directly with the Kwara State Revenue Service (KWRS) over tax collection, in an effort to reduce the number and cost of levies they pay. Rather than dealing with several layers of charges, the groups are exploring arrangements they believe could make their daily obligations more predictable and less burdensome.
For other operators, however, the response has been more drastic. Some transporters interviewed for this investigation said they had left Kwara for larger cities such as Ibadan and Lagos, where they hoped to find better opportunities and stronger earnings. Their movement reflects the pressure facing workers whose livelihoods depend entirely on daily income. A rider who cannot earn enough after paying for fuel, maintenance, taxes, levies and other expenses has little room to absorb further increases. Staying on the road means continuing to work under pressure; leaving means abandoning customers, familiar routes and an established source of livelihood in the hope of starting again somewhere else.
The development raises a broader question about the sustainability of the tricycle transport business in Kwara. When transport operators begin organising to reduce the burden of multiple charges, while others leave the state altogether, the issue goes beyond the hardship of individual riders. It raises questions about whether the current revenue collection system is helping small transport businesses remain viable or placing additional pressure on a sector that provides income for thousands of households. However, the scale of the movement and the reasons for individual operators leaving would require further official data and independent verification.
What the high taxes and illegal levies are causing
When transport costs rise, everything that depends on movement begins to cost more. Faced with higher petrol prices, daily taxes and other operating expenses, transporter will have little choice but to increase fares and pass part of the burden to passengers.
In Ilorin, for instance, riders and passengers told us that the Oja Oba to Okoolowo fare, which was about N100 to N150 three years ago, is now around N500. The increase means that the pressure of taxation and rising operating costs does not end with the rider. It travels with the passenger, enters the price of goods and services and ultimately makes everyday life more expensive for households.
The effect does not stop at the transport fare. As the cost of moving goods from markets and wholesalers to neighbourhood shops rises, traders are forced to spend more to restock the same quantity of goods. For petty traders, particularly women running small provision shops with little working capital, even a modest increase in transportation costs can eat into the small profit they make on each item. To remain in business, some may have to increase the prices of bread, drinks, sachet water, noodles, toiletries and other household essentials, while customers, already struggling with higher living costs, bear the final burden.
What begins as a levy on a tricycle can therefore travel through the entire local economy, from the rider to the trader and eventually to the family buying food and other necessities.
If sustained, such movement could become more than a transport-sector problem. It could weaken an important part of Kwara’s informal economy by pushing economically active workers out of the state. The irony is stark. A system designed to generate revenue from businesses can ultimately shrink the very economic base from which that revenue is collected.
When Taxes Become a Burden on the Economy -Expert
Lawal Uthman Adebayo, an economic expert, said the rising burden of multiple levies can undermine the very businesses government depends on to generate revenue. He argued that when small businesses are forced to surrender a large share of their daily earnings to taxes, levies, fuel and other operating costs, little is left for reinvestment, expansion or even household survival. “If government reduces the cost of doing business, entrepreneurs will have more room to survive, expand, employ people and eventually pay more tax. The goal should be to make the small business bigger, not to make the small business owner smaller,” he said.
Adebayo said genuine small businesses should be given room to grow before being subjected to heavier financial obligations. He called for a review of overlapping levies and transport infrastructure, easier access to affordable credit and a tax system that takes the capacity of small businesses into account.
His argument points to a wider economic danger. When a tricycle operator spends more of his daily income on taxes and levies, he has less money to maintain his vehicle, repay instalments or support his family. When the operator raises fares, passengers pay more. When traders pay more to transport goods, the cost is eventually reflected in the prices consumers pay. The pressure therefore moves from the transporter to the passenger, from the passenger to the trader and ultimately to the household.
Issa Zakariyah Aromokala, an economic diplomat, said taxation can become a serious constraint on the survival and profitability of small and medium-sized businesses when they face multiple and overlapping charges. He explained that every additional payment reduces the working capital available for daily operations, investment and expansion. While businesses may attempt to pass part of the burden to consumers through higher prices, he noted that this can weaken demand and further reduce profitability.
The economic concern, therefore, is not simply how much government collects today, but what remains of the business after collection. If excessive or overlapping charges weaken businesses to the point where they reduce operations, leave the market or shut down, the immediate revenue gained can come at the expense of future economic activity, jobs and a broader tax base. In the long run, a tax system that makes it difficult for small businesses to survive risks reducing the number of businesses capable of becoming larger, employing more people and contributing more revenue.
