A mini bus driver, Mrs Remilekun Adeyemi, had just returned from her fourth trip. “Ogba-Agege, Ogba-Agege,” she called on passengers. It was 11am and the loading of passengers was slow because the early morning rush had subsided.
She moved a little bit further into the lay-by at Berger, hoping to fill up her bus. Her other co-male driver plying the same route, who sat in his vehicle with his head outside the bus’ window also called on passengers in a contending manner.
In an interview with our correspondent, Adeyemi, who is a mother of three, said she had been separated from her husband for eight years. She narrated that she once sold parboiled rice but when men of the Nigerian Customs Service seized her goods, she stayed at home for a while, hawked pap, ventured into driving tricycles before getting a mini bus on hire purchase.
She said, “My husband who works as a cobbler is not ready to take care of his responsibility so we’ve gone on our separate ways. When tricycles otherwise known as keke were banned and I sent the children to their father for their school fees, he said I was the one that want the children to go to school so I should make provisions for that. He said though he didn’t have a formal education he is still alive so I should leave them to their lives.”
From Mondays to Fridays, Adeyemi’s hustles for passengers with her bus on the Agege-Ogba route. She is however not the only female thriving in this male-dominated sector.
Female drivers as contributors to economy
The World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognised sources noted that the world labour force of females in Nigeria was reported at 44.8 per cent in 2020.
Also, a March 2020 data on the impact of women on Nigeria’s economy by a global accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers, indicated that the participation of female in the agricultural and industrial sectors fell rapidly between 2000 and 2018.
It further highlighted that over the past two decades in the services sector, the share of female employment rose to 61.6 per cent as against 44.6 per cent of male employment driven mainly by participation in areas including catering, medical services, educational services, transportation, etc.
According to the data, “The participation of females in the services-oriented sectors e.g. transport, education and medical services is a major factor driving the marginal growth of females.”
It was observed that five female minibuses drivers ply the Berger-Ogba-Agege- routes and start their jobs early in the morning. Once their children had been readied for school, they leave for work and return in the evening to handle marital duties.
Mrs Oyeniji Olayikanmi is another minibus driver. She carefully parked her bus behind that of a female colleague and alighted to speak with another co-driver. She wanted to quickly visit her other business place before it got to her turn to load when our correspondent met her.
Olayikanmi said the job was both stressful and interesting especially as she meets different people every day. According to her, despite the taxing nature of the job, she still ensures she performs her sexual and other marital duties.
She said heartily, “I am expected to still perform my duties including sexual duties as a wife and take care of my children as a mother notwithstanding the challenges faced on the job. I have to keep my marriage despite the tough task of driving a commercial bus in Lagos traffic.
“Lagos traffic is unpredictable and by the time one finishes for the day, one is already tired. I don’t allow the hassles of Lagos traffic to interfere with my sexual duties. Though sometimes I may feel too tired, my husband usually understands me in such moments.’’
A pregnant minibus driver, Mrs Balikisu Mosaku, sat gently in the bus as one of her male passengers helped her to call on passengers. Mosaku told Saturday PUNCH that she had been driving commercial bus for over five years. She added that her pregnancy does not prevent her from driving because the challenge to provide for her children is her driving force.
Mosaku explained that she does the job to contribute to the running of her home by supporting her husband.
She stated, “Looking at the challenge of providing for the children I have no choice but to keep working despite being pregnant. I worked with an insurance company after I left the wholesale food selling business. I left working there because of my children. I cannot do any work that would affect me from taking care of my children. I see that this driving business is profitable and fits my style, I can go out anytime I like and return home anytime I like and when I feel my children need me. I am doing this work because of my children so I also help to take good care of them.”
She added that driving for a long time does not affect her in any way, adding that, “some women who do nothing still nurse pains. It is normal for our body to feel pain either one works or not. Though it is not easy, we thank God. I am okay with my sexual life with my husband. That asppect is very vital. I have to keep my marriage. I don’t intend to quit the job anytime soon. I will stop for a while before I put to bed.’’
The story is the same for Mrs Ganiyat Busari, a tailor turned minibus driver who plies the Berger/ Ogba route. She said she caters to her children’s needs before leaving home and puts them in someone’s care before returning in the evening to take care of them and her husband.
She said, “I leave home by 7am and close by 7pm. I do the job to support my family. But despite the stress of driving in Lagos traffic, I ensure that I don’t complain anytime my husband demands intimate time with me. It is an important thing to keep my home. Driving doesn’t prevent me from having sex with my husband. I ensure that this aspect is not affected by the kind of work I do.”However, a Ghanaian, Mrs Victor Adoyi, born and raised in Lagos is a widow of over five years. She joined the transportation business because the money she makes helps her to cater to her four children.
Adoyi explained that she started driving a minibus to take care of her family when she lost her husband.
She said, “For me since I lost my husband, this is the job I use in feeding my four children, it is better than sitting at home doing nothing. I had a shop before I started the transportation business that wasn’t going well. I closed it to go into this business because of its profitability so I can take care of my children.
“I have been on this job for five years and I have experienced a lot of things. Most of us started this work because we were suffering but driving has been profitable. It’s better than being a prostitute. I start my day by 5am when it is 6pm, I close for the day and glory to God, we have been managing well.’’
While she has yet to remarry, she notes that she has a lover who visits her once in a while. Adoyi noted, “For a woman that has proper a home training and a husband that takes care of her, sex will be no big deal in such a union. But it will be difficult for a woman whose husband doesn’t take care of her to be ready to do it with such a man.’’
Taking care of the home
Adeyemi noted that notwithstanding the challenges of the job, she had to ensure that everything was okay at home before leaving for work.
She added, “In the morning, before I start work, I’ll ensure that my children have their baths. I take the older ones at a school close to the park in Berger and a neighbour helps me to take the youngest child to school. When they close from school, they wait for me at an agreed location and we go home from there with whatever money I realise for the day. I have time to take care of my children. I don’t go out on Saturdays and Sundays.
Adoyi corroborated Adeyemi, saying some women among them living with their husbands leave the park by 5pm. She stated, “By 5pm, we just noticed that they are no longer around; they would have gone home to take care of their family.”
Some of the women also have people living with them who assist in handling household chores. One of them is Busari who has some relatives living with her to help attend to some home duties whenever she is at work.
“I take care of my children before leaving the house in the morning and in the evening, there are people to take care of them when they return from school,” she said.
Also, Mosaku has a home help to assist with other household tasks while she attends to the needs of her children and spouse.
She said, “I have two children and being pregnant, I make sure that I take care of my other two children; I bathe them, dress them up and cook for them before I leave for work. The home help assists as well but I do not rely on the home help to take care of my children, cook or bathe them. I do that myself. The duty of the home help is to clean the rooms, wash plates and fetch water.”
Handling male drivers, passengers, agberos’ excessesAdeyemi said like their male counterparts, they also face varied challenges relating to driving a minibus in Lagos.
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She said, “Some of the agberos (Fee collectors at parks) are well-mannered. Some even tell us to pay a reduced amount because we are females. We also cooperate with them and don’t behave as touts. We try to avoid male colleagues who behave irresponsibly. Everyone has different responsibilities and what they use their money for.”
Sharing her experience with passengers, Adeyemi said she had encountered some male passengers who refused to board a bus driven by females.
She noted, “When I first started this work, people were surprised to see a woman driving a bus. Some passengers who were impressed with my driving usually told me to keep the change. Some even asked to pay for the full load when they saw me calling on passengers without seeing any. Some might ask if my fuel tank is full, if I tell them it isn’t, they can tell me to stop at the next filling station and pay for a full tank. But some passengers desire to alight anywhere and not a designated bus stop. So, they know that females wouldn’t take such a risk or break the law. They believe male drivers are bolder and can take the risk. There is stress on the job but it’s better than being idle.’’
For Olayikanmi, the job is interesting somehow and at the same time a little bit challenging because it is not a woman’s job and at times one would feel the pain after driving for a while. “The way all agberos talk to us at times can hurt but I cope and know how to handle them,’’ she said.
Some of them have also had rough encounters with male passengers. Adoyi said she was once beaten by a male passenger before.
She explained, “For us females, there are challenges. For example, if you don’t give the agberos money on time, they can begin to remove the bus’ rubber lining or abuse us by asking if it’s the type of work other women are doing? The passengers too can be difficult. Some might not give one the exact fare or give a higher denomination despite being told forewarned before entering the bus. Some passengers will hurl insults to the extent that one can be moved to tears while at the steering. Some passengers can smack our buttocks when we alight from the vehicle during disagreements. Our co-male drivers don’t disturb us. They go on their own and we also keep to our own lane.’’
Mosaku, however, said she refused to be intimidated by agberos, passengers or male colleagues. The woman stated, “Nobody can bully me because I do not take nonsense or tolerate nonsense from anybody. Even for passengers, if they talk to me respectfully, I reply in the same manner. But if the talks are abnormal, I will respond abnormally too.”
Dwelling on the job, Busari said transportation business was an essential job, adding that there were female Bus Rapid Transport drivers plying dedicated routes in Lagos.
She explained, “There is no job that men do that we women can’t do. The mini bus is automatic and this makes it easy to drive, although there are some women who drive manual. I advise other jobless females to also join the transportation business. It depends on how you see it. Some see it as a bad job being done by irresponsible people, but it is not true.
Hire purchase minibus
Many of the female drivers got their buses on hire purchase. Repayment on a weekly agreement is a daily race they run to win.
Adoyi said that most of them collected the buses on hire purchase, adding “I got mine for N1.8m with an insurance of N200,000 making the money almost N2m. I pay N25,000 every Thursday and I am left with N300,000 to pay up before the bus finally becomes mine. We got the buses on hire purchase because there’s no other way to get buses but because I can’t keep on suffering together with my children, I didn’t consider the amount of money I will pay.’’
Adeyemi said someone told her that a minibus was available if she could get an initial deposit of N100,000 as part payment.
“I fell ill recently because of the stress of the job. There is always the fear of being caught by the various highway officials. Also, there is no time to really eat while driving because of the pressure of working to meet one’s target so that one can remit one’s weekly payment for the bus. I got a loan from the Lift Above Poverty Organisation to pay the deposit and I was given the bus for N1.8m on hire purchase. I have paid about N500,000,’’ She added.
Male counterparts, passengers laud female drivers
Nonetheless, some of their male counterparts do not have problems with these women driving alongside them.
A mini bus driver along Berger-Ogba axis, Mr Kenny Agboola, said he wouldn’t advise females to dabble into commercial bus driving because of the problems associated with it.
He said, “Now, there is no job a male can do that a female cannot do. A male and a female are the same; you see many females in trousers these days. I salute the courage of female drivers. It is good they are doing it but I will not allow my wife to do this type of business because of bad roads, traffic authorities and unruly passengers.”
Another male driver of a minibus, Mr John Aniekan, said though the work cannot be said to be easy, a determined woman would do it.
He stated, “This work is not easy; the stress in the transportation business is much. However, in Nigeria of today, everyone has to hustle. If a woman feels she can do it, then it is fine. It is even better for them to do this than to engage in prostitution. There are even females driving BRTs now. Whatever you make up your mind to do, you can do it.”
Besides, Mr Peter Ephraim who is also a minibus driver plying the same route with Adeyemi and Busari, lauded what he termed the female drivers’ driving dexterity.
According to Ephraim, it is often said that what a man can do, a woman can do better. He stated, “As a male, I don’t discriminate against my female colleagues. I’m even impressed to see that women these days are not idle; as many of them that want to venture into driving are welcome.”
A passenger, who boarded one of the female drivers’ buses identified as Chucks, said he does not have a problem with a woman driving a minibus, describing it as an opportunity for women to do something.
Chucks said, “There are no jobs in the country; this is an opportunity that is available for them to take advantage of. It is better than sitting at home idle and waiting for their husbands or someone to give them money.”
Another passenger who had taken a ride in one of the female drivers’ of minibuses, Blessing Azuka, noted that female drivers were flexible and often took care of their families despite the stress associated with the job.
Azuka added, “I love to enter the bus of a particular female minibus driver because of the way she talks politely to the “agberos.” She is a strong and jovial woman. These female drivers have shown that they are responsible irrespective of the fact that they are working in a male-dominated sector. They know how to drive, the road maps and what to do. They are self-employed which is okay as it also gives them the flexibility of being able to take care of their families.’’
Female drivers committed, productive, say NURTW, NASME
The Secretary, National Union of Road Transport Workers Lagos State Council, Mr Oluwaseyi Bankole, said the female minibus drivers were committed and hardworking, adding that they could contest elective posts being members of the union.
Bankole said, “They are hardworking and committed to their duties with some of them being widows and breadwinners of their families. The female drivers are also members of the Nigerian Labour Congress because we are affiliated with the NLC. They are also full members of the NURTW. They are committed to the standards in the sector. Some of these women hold positions in the union with a few being the secretary or treasurer in some units or branches. These women are extraordinary; they are super women, trying to maintain the standard of their families and the union. Meanwhile, some are widows and breadwinners of their families.”
On passengers harassing female drivers, Bankole said the union got reports of the acts and put measures in place to curb them.
Bankole noted, “We have heard reports of passengers beating up female drivers. We have inaugurated a task force on roads and garages. At times, some people complain about the attitude of drivers whereas some passengers display more hooliganism than some of our drivers. In a society like ours, these things happen. In a situation where females push carts, some people will see them and say, ‘is this the type of work you’re doing?
“There is a poverty alleviation scheme that the chairman of the union has put in place for them where we rent out vehicles or tricycles to women to empower them.”
Also, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, Eke Ubiji, noted that female drivers contributed to the country’s economy.
Ubiji said, “In an organised job place, provisions should be made for women. Before someone can be described as a particular gender, the person is first a human being. As long as a woman is fit to drive a vehicle and she uses it to make eke out a living, she is making a contribution to the economic situation of society. They should not be disregarded or looked down upon. We as a union don’t support such. In NASME we have women groups that are given recognition such as men.”
Copyright PUNCH.
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