It takes an extra skill for any motorist to successfully navigate chaotic Lagos traffic. But Michael Akoma, a 52-year-old amputee commercial tricyclist, needs much more than a special skill.
A resident of Akiode downtown Lagos metroplolis, Akoma combines stamina with sheer grit to operate his rickety tricycle with one hand. He braces the odds every day to cater for his wife and four children, shuttling Berger-Ogba axis of the state.
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The intricate manner he applies the gear with his right hand and swiftly switches the same limb to the throttle to rev the engine is appallingly taxing.
“If I want to apply the gear, I will use the severed limb to stylishly hold the clutch, use the right hand to apply the gear and quickly return it to raise the throttle,” Akoma revealed during an interview with our correspondent on Wednesday.
“The tricycle will jerk for a while and then move normally. When I am stuck in traffic, I would hold the clutch with the severed limb and throttle down. Then, I release the clutch when traffic eases off.”
Such has been the gruelling daily routine the native of Abia State performs to eke out a living since he lost his left arm in a ghastly accident in 2014.
“I was carrying some passengers to Ikeja when a trailer suddenly hit me by the side and crushed my left arm,” Akoma recalled, squeezing his face at the mention of the painful memory. “I landed in Ikeja General Hospital and was on admission for about eight months.”
He explained that representatives of the company visited him at the hospital and paid for his hospital bills.
“The tricycle that was involved in the accident wasn’t mine. It was badly damaged the company also paid the owner. In addition, they gave me N2m,” Akoma said.
Determined to have a fresh shot at life after he was discharged from the hospital, Akoma renewed his house rent, set up a petty trade for his wife and bought two tricycles which he gave two riders on higher purchase.
Things were going according to plan. He was using part of the remittance by the riders to take care of his family while saving up the rest to buy another two tricycles.
A few months later, his plans began to fall apart like a pack of cards. The drivers stopped repaying and returned the tricycles in bad shape. In the days that followed, Akoma’s household sank deeper into financial hardship, living every day on the off chance.
“One of the riders paid up to N250,000 while the other remitted N300,000. The tricycles had become rickety when they were returned. Things became very tough for us, so I sold one of them.
“It was bought for N25,000 because it had become old and lost value due to the tricycle ban in many parts of the state then. I didn’t sell this one (pointing at the one he rides) because I wanted to have some property I can show to my children,” he recounted.
Riding as an amputee
The aftermath of October 2020 #EndSARS protest in Lagos saw the return of commercial tricycles to highways they were earlier banned from plying.
Akoma didn’t give up. He borrowed N50,00 from a microfinance bank to fix the only tricycle he was left with not minding the stringent conditions attached to the loan.
After the repair, he scouted for an honest rider who would make daily remittance to no avail. Sometime December 2020, he mustered up courage to ride the tricycle.
“As I was coming out of the street where I live, a boy carrying a load flagged my tricycle. I was initially reluctant to carry him. He paid N500 when I took him to his destination. I was happy and that was how I started full operation again. I realise N3,000 to N5,000 a day,” he added.
However, heavy traffic especially during rush hours poses a huge challenge to Akoma.
He stated, “It is difficult for me to operate whenever traffic is heavy. I usually pack and wait for traffic to subside so that I won’t hit somebody’s car. I will continue working when it has subsided. If the road is free, I ride smoothly and since I started using one hand, I have never hit any vehicle. I ride with care.
“Some passengers don’t know I have one hand until I want to change the gear and the steering is shaking. Some of them will abuse me that I don’t know how to drive but when they realise that I am using one hand to operate everything, they salute my courage. Most of my passengers pity me and some don’t even collect change.
“On the other hand, some people don’t allow me to carry them once they see my condition. There was a day I carried a passenger. Immediately he discovered that I have one hand, he asked me to stop and he alighted. I asked him why he disembarked but he said I shouldn’t worry. Within me, I knew it was because of my condition.”
Experience with agberos, LASTMA officials
Due to his physical condition, transport union leaders don’t collect ticket fees from Akoma. Constant harassment by touts popularly called agberos at motor parks is however a hindrance.
He said, “The agberos are not happy about the decision of the union leaders not collecting ticket fees from me. So they usually chase me away whenever I want to carry passengers. Their bosses had warned them not to collect money from me.
“Initially, LASTMA (Lagos State Traffic Management Authority) officials used to harass me for riding with one hand but they later stopped out of pity. At times, when my keke breaks down on the road, they even help me to push it. Some of them call me ‘wawa,’ because I don’t stay in one place. I work hard so that I can take care of my family.
“We live in a two-bedroom apartment and I pay N300,000 rent every year. I am funding the education of three of my children who are in secondary school. A church is helping to sponsor the education of my last daughter who is in a private primary school.”
Once upon a businessman
Akoma told Daily Trust he was doing fine in a palm oil business before it suddenly crashed in 2005. A vehicle bringing his goods from the eastern part of the country had an accident. According to him, the vehicle somersaulted and all the 10 drums of palm oil it conveyed spilled to the ground.
“Everything wasted. When I didn’t have the means to continue the business, I started riding a motorcycle. I got married as an okada rider and began to raise children. I went into tricycle riding in 2008. That accident is still a mystery to me but I thank God for the gift of life,” he said.
Akoma’s supportive family
Narrating how the family fared through turbulent moments, Akoma’s wife, Hope, said things were so difficult at some point that she nearly lost hope.
The woman said she was with Akoma at the hospital throughout the eight-month admission and had to send their children to the village.
She said, “It is not easy. It is God that has been helping us with people’s support. I get tired many times when it appears as if there is no hope again. Life was so terrible during the time my husband was in the hospital. Our children had to stop school for one year. I sent them to the village to stay with my parents while I was with my husband in the hospital.
“Thankfully, the children are cooperating. They are contented with whatever we give them and they pray that things will get better. Their father took care of them very well before the accident happened.”
Amid the challenges fate throws at him, Akoma never surrenders to his frailties. He tries to stay in high spirits. And in his leisure, there is never a dull moment.
“When I am not doing anything, I engage neighbours in political discussions. We were joking one day and I told them I would become President in 2023. Since then, many people began to call me Excellency,” he concluded, wearing a broad smile.
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