Tuesday, April 08, 2025
Lagos, Nigeria
Amaka Okoli, a 38-year-old mother, was forced to change profession when she lost her job at a bank: now a bus driver, she usually starts her day at 05:30 a.m., rush hour for workers in Lagos, the Nigerian megalopolis with a population of 20 million.
“It used to be rare to see a woman bus driver in Lagos, but things have changed because we have to earn a living,” she explains as she waits to start her little yellow bus with black stripes to travel through several districts of the megalopolis.
“I feel like I have two lives. On the one hand, there’s that of a bus driver, where I have to be daring and attract passengers, and on the other the quieter life of a housewife, taking care of my husband and children,” adds Ms. Okoli.
According to several experts and professionals in the transport sector, the current economic climate in Nigeria is driving more and more women to set up as bus and VTC drivers.
“Families can no longer depend on a single income, and in some cases, women have become breadwinners, leading them to explore professions that were culturally reserved for men,” says Samuel Odewumi, professor of transport planning and policy at Lagos State University.
Nigeria is currently experiencing one of its worst economic crises in decades.
The cost of living has risen dramatically in Africa’s most populous country since President Bola Tinubu, elected in 2023, ended fuel subsidies and currency controls.
– Ladies on Wheels –
In Lagos, bus drivers are predominantly male, as are their attendants, whose job it is to help passengers board and inform them about the route.
These private buses, known as “Korope” or “Danfo”, emblematic of the Lagos landscape, carry around 10 million passengers every day, according to a study carried out by the Lagos Metropolitan Transport Authority (LAMATA) in 2015.
With the rise in the number of female bus and VTC drivers, including Nigeria’s best-known Uber and Bolt, the Nigerian association Ladies on Wheels (“des femmes sur roues” in French, LOWAN) now has over 5,000 members, up from just six when it was founded in 2018.
“We felt the need to take care of ourselves, especially in a city as dynamic as Lagos, where everyone is hustling,” explains Victoria Oyeyemi, president of LOWAN, this self-help association for female bus and VTC drivers.
For Ms. Oyeyemi, it’s important to encourage women to become public or private transport drivers, while also raising awareness of the difficulties and risks inherent in this profession.
“We don’t encourage our members to work late at night because the risks are too high, but some do,” says Ms. Oyeyemi, referring to reported cases of theft of earnings and vehicles.
– Modest income –
Male drivers often consume alcohol and energy drinks to cope with the fatigue and stress of traffic jams, leading to erratic driving and speed limit violations.
As a result, “passengers now prefer to board buses driven by women, as they are considered cleaner and safer behind the wheel”, says Amaka Okoli.
Speeding caused around 56% of road accidents between January and June 2024, according to the National Road Safety Agency.
But the modest income generated by this activity doesn’t satisfy Amaka Okoli.
“I often cry at work, especially when my bus is seized and I have to use all my money to pay the fine. I go home empty-handed,” says Ms. Okoli.
Sixty percent of the daily income of this mother of three goes to cover daily taxes, bribes to traffic wardens and the purchase of fuel.
But the job, even with all its difficulties, is “better than staying unemployed”, she concedes.
Humaniterre with AFP ©
