COMMERCIAL TRICYCLE: JOB CREATION AND INCOME GENERATION IN NASARAWA STATE - NIGERIA

The study examines the contribution of commercial tricycle; job creation and income generation in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. This study adopted a survey research technique. The data used in this study was gathered from primary sources, collected from cross-sectional surveys of commercial tricycle operators, officials of relevant trade unions, Nasarawa State license office (Central Motor Registry Unit), Nasarawa State Board of Internal Revenue and end users of their services using a comprehensive and structured questionnaire /interview method, as well as Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The study employed an optimized ouput -revenue framework, which is a technique of finding the best possible of output and price level to give the most possible revenue. It was discovered that over the years, accidents involving Commercial tricycle, resulting from reckless driving and refusal to comply with traffic rules have been on the increase in direct proportion to the number of commercial tricycles for commercial purposes. The study also discovered that commercial tricycle riders or operators are confronted with high cost of setting up the business. The findings revealed that about 171,000 persons were employed by the business in 2017, but commercial tricycle business has the potential to create 29,050,728jobs to persons operating at full capacity. It also revealed that the business has the potential to contribute about N530million in taxes to the state coffers annually. The study recommends that there should be a purposeful regulation of the commercial tricycle business with the sole intention of widening the tax net to capture the activities of those currently edge to bridge the gap caused by the ban on motorcycle.