INTRODUCTION

KEKENAPEP or Commercial Tricycle is intracity commuter transportation system in Nigeria. The purpose of its birth is to assist the government to achieve its goal of eradicating poverty in the Nigerian economy particularly, among Nigerian youth. It is argued that the project offers series of economic advantages to the operators, that is, it has powerful diesel engine and a fuel tank capacity of 10.5litres, capacity of four passengers, payload capacity of 320kg, adequate room for passenger luggage, with top speed up to 80km per hour, it is suitable for intracity commuting and commercial passenger carriage, and it also has a low fuel consumption of 38km per litre www.nigeriafirst.org/printer263.shtmlcached 16th December 2013. The Project was introduced since 2001 as poverty alleviation strategy to engage the unemployed youth into gainful employment in the economy. It serves as economic opportunity to improve the small and medium scale entrepreneurs in which, the latter contributes positively to the economic development process of the country. The Governor of KwaraState Abdulfatah Ahmed, 2012 has claimed that this tricycle transportation would contribute to reduce transportation problem and equally procure job for the youth in the State.

Furthermore, KEKENAPEP Project has three phases since its inception. In phase one and two, 2,000 units each distributed to all the 36 states including FCT Abuja, of the federation in the years 2002 and 2004, respectively. 5,000 units are allocated to be distributed for phase three, out of which, 3,286 units had been completely distributed to the 36 states including FCT Abuja. Kwara State received 50 units out of 109 units allocated to the state for the phase three. However, it is claimed that the distribution of the units to the states is based on economic viability, equity and population www.napepnigeria.org/programmes/THEKEKENAPEPProject.aspx 16th December 2013. Many challenges are facing the operators of KekeNapep in different states in the country. Its operation is being banned and or restricted in some states, this restriction is either minor or majorit depends on the situationwww.nigeriaa2z.com/2011/09/11/kekenapeppovertyalleviationgonesour 19th December 2013. These challenges are attributed to certain reasons such as road congestion, social ills and beautification of the city as the case of Lagos state, PortHarcourt and FCT Abuja, respectively. Figure 1 shows an operator posting with KekeNapep while figure 2 displays queue of KekeNapep with their operators waiting for the passengers.