Rather than starve with her retiree
husband and 11-year old son, a teacher, Mrs. Temidayo Fagbenle, took up
commercial driving in Ilorin, Kwara State. Success Nwogu reports
For Mrs. Temidayo Fagbenle , a teacher
in a secondary school in Ilorin, Kwara State, the saying that necessity
is the mother of invention is applicable. The school teacher has to
drive Kabukabu that is, an unpainted taxi, to make ends meet.
Recalling how she became a commercial
driver – a task mainly undertaken by illiterate and semi-literate men -she said that it was in her attempt to find a solution to her financial predicament.
According to her, though she receives a
monthly salary as a teacher, her family’s needs and that of some members
of her relations could not be met by her monthly income.
She said that a day came that she was in
so much financial need and could not even meet her own family financial
needs that she started thinking of a way out.
According to her, she was so broke that
she did not even have N100 in her purse. She thought so much of a way to
get funds to meet her immediate need and suddenly realised that her
car, which she usually drove to school, could generate additional
revenue.
Fagbenle said she quickly acted on the
idea and even before her husband, who is a retiree and her child, a
student in a secondary school in Ilorin, could be informed of her new
business idea, she had already gone ‘picking’ passengers and made brisk
business on the first day. She was able to make enough to meet her
immediate needs.
She said, “There was a time I was in
need of money. It was such a precarious situation that I did not even
have N100 on me. I had some pressing family needs to attend to. I was in
a fix on how to solve the burden. I thought of something to do but it
wouldn’t work, so I just took this vehicle that day.
“I woke up around 6am. I went to Tanke
in Ilorin and started this kabukabu (commuter taxi). Initially, I was
afraid that officials of the National Union of Road Transport Workers
could harass me since I was not a member then. But I summoned courage.
Within one hour, I realised some money. That was early 2011. That day, I
went back home before 7am because I did not want people to know what I
did.
“I was happy that the money I made that
hour solved my immediate needs that day. But I stopped. I was thinking
‘is it God’s will for me to be doing this type of work for my secondary
assignment’? I have a child to take care of, though my husband is there.
With the situation in Nigeria, the two hands should be rubbing
themselves together; husband and wife should be earning an income.”
Fagbenle said she went into full cab
business this year, plying the Maraba-UITH route in Ilorin. She said
that even the day she went to register with the NURTW, she had only
N3,000 which was not enough for the registration. So she begged the
official she met and promised to pay up later. Having reached an
agreement with the NURTW official, she started and since then had been
finding her second job enjoyable.
She expressed gratitude to her
passengers including those that had been passing good comments about
her, adding that she had never had any problem with any of them.
For her, the male drivers had never been
a problem as, according to her, they regard her as fellow driver and
even assist her get passengers to board her vehicle.
“In fact, they like what I am doing.
When I have difficulty calling passengers, they would even rally round
me and then I move on. I thank God. They are really there for me as
people that can help someone. I can say that God sent them to me.
“They do not think about male or female but they are there for me at any time,” she said.
The Kogi State-born, who is married to a
Kwara indigene, said she had not been having problem with other
motorists or traffic officials.
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