Harassed Female commercial bus driver shares her story

Yetunde Muhammed

Commercial bus driver, Yetunde Muhammed, shares how she faced challenges in the course of her work

What motivated you to engage in male-dominated work like driving a commercial bus?

I started driving a commercial bus about 11 years ago. I’m 39 years old, married, and have three children. I started with a Maruwa (tricycle) when it was being sold for around N100,000. I bought my first tricycle for N70,000, and from there, I upgraded to a korope (minibus). After that, I was able to buy a 14-seater Hiace bus and eventually upgraded to the 18-seater Hiace bus, which I’m using now.

What motivated me to start this job was my belief that the job was not meant only for men. People used to call women the weaker ones, but we are not like that. No job is meant for one specific gender if you have passion and stay focused on it.

Did your husband oppose the idea of becoming a commercial driver?

Yes. When I first told my husband that I wanted to go into commercial tricycle driving, he said I couldn’t do it. But I tried to convince him, telling him that I had seen a lady who people often called the Iron Lady doing the same work, and I told him I had the capacity to do it.

Immediately I said this he agreed because he is the kind of person who always supports me in anything I want to do. He knows that I always focus on anything I like doing. So, that was how I started the job.

What are the challenges you have faced doing the work?

I have faced a lot of challenges, from uniformed personnel to passengers. I’ve faced a lot that I cannot forget. In every profession, some things are extraordinary while some are not. For commercial drivers like me, we have our own challenges too, and there is no perfect driver, especially in Lagos.

People know us, and that is why they always say, “Lagos danfo driver, na so dem dey behave.” I faced many challenges before I eventually got used to it. I had to fight for freedom to be where I am today.

Can you remember some of the things you battled with before you began to experience freedom?

Mostly in the mornings, when I was still driving Maruwa, the police would always disturb me. There was a place at Ikeja where we used to pick up passengers, although it wasn’t an officially designated bus stop. If I stopped there, the police would arrest me. I was even surprised recently when I saw one of the uniformed personnel who sent me an old picture from that time when I started driving korope.

At that time, I used to carry my daughter in the front seat and would always go for two trips in the morning before dropping her at school. After that, I would start preparing for the real work of the day. I faced a lot of challenges from agbero (touts) and passengers.

The union was not as organised as it is now. Everyone in the union knows that, especially in Lagos. Before now, the agbero could just decide to damage your vehicle by removing your mirror or wires from your bus, but the union has stopped them from doing that.

Previously, the agbero were not coordinated, and they didn’t care whether you were a female or male. Once we got to the park, whether we had passengers to pick or not, they wouldn’t care. Their main concern was how to collect levies from us.

People often see transport workers as uneducated. What is your view on that?

As I mentioned earlier, in each field, the way one presents oneself to the public is how others will perceive you. I have some female drivers whom I mentored; some of them have Master’s degrees, and some of them are not even in Nigeria anymore. So, you’ll always see them as special. If you enter my vehicle, you’ll know I treat it as my office. Because it is my office, I won’t show up tattered.

People see commercial drivers as illiterates who talk to passengers anyhow. Many men have confronted me, saying they are commercial drivers and I’m a challenge to them, and that if I confront them, they won’t take it lightly. But some of them are now looking good.

They smell nice because they’ve realised that some passengers won’t enter their vehicles if they are dirty. That has encouraged more commercial drivers to try to look presentable. In some fields, you have educated illiterates and illiterate educated people. That’s just how it is.

What is your highest academic qualification?

I only have SSCE.

Why did you decide to venture into the transport business and not something else?

I’ve worked in many organisations and factories. I’ve worked as a sales representative, and I have children. With the cost of living in Lagos—children’s education, house rent, and feeding—I cannot leave all those expenses to my husband alone because I don’t want him to die.

Women should be a support system for them. That was why I summoned the courage and told myself that if others are doing it and making money, I can also do it—with the help of God—to support my family.

Have you encountered any stereotypes about being a female driver?

People said a lot, even at the park. Male drivers would say, “Women are competing with men. Are women not supposed to have shops and stay there? Commercial bus driving is for men, not for women like me.”

Aside from that, others also said the job is for men, but I always replied, “No job is for men alone. A job is a job, and anybody can do it.” I’ve heard passengers say that, and they’d also laugh at me.

When I started with Maruwa (commercial tricycle), some people laughed at me, and I’d ask, “Why are you laughing? What’s funny?” Sometimes I would just ignore them.

Was there any time you felt shy or ashamed of the work you are doing? 

That was when I started with maruwa. The week I came out on the street, people were just looking and laughing at me. Whenever I wanted to pick up passengers, some would refuse, saying, ‘Na woman; I no go enter.’ Even now, some men still do that. So yes, I felt it then before I later summoned courage.

There is a video where you had an altercation with a man. What happened?

The incident happened recently, and it was a public embarrassment. It was a situation where I caught someone stealing my property, challenged him and he beat me up. It was embarrassing. That morning, I had prepared for work and posted a video thanking God for my first trip.

I had conveyed passengers from Berger to VI. Normally, my route is Secretariat, but because my vehicle is a big bus, I needed to drive long distances to allow the carbon to burn out. I was advised to do long journeys to expand the lifespan of the engine.

That day, I went to Lekki-VI, dropped off passengers, and was returning from my second trip. I picked up a man at Sandfill Under-bridge who said he was going to Law School. I already had one passenger in the front and another sitting behind me. The man became the third passenger, sitting in the second row.

My vehicle has five seats. I watched him through my inner mirror. The man changed seats multiple times, and I became suspicious. I told the front passenger that I wanted to park properly to check what was happening.

I didn’t even turn off the engine because I use two batteries. I run a diesel bus, and sometimes either the battery or the diesel can disappoint unexpectedly. I had to buy an extra battery because of a previous experience. I couldn’t even rent a battery back then, so I bought a new one and placed it in the boot, using the old one for the engine and the new one as backup.

I asked the man, “Oga, I hope all is well?” Looking between his legs, I saw my battery. I challenged him, saying the battery was mine. I recognised it because it was still new, and I had just bought it weeks ago. I told him he would explain how he got the battery out of the boot, and that I would report him to the police.

To my surprise, he stood up and shouted, “Which battery? Which police?” Then he punched me. I held him tightly because he was trying to steal my property.

Instead of fleeing, he started beating and biting me, but I held him with all my strength. I told myself, if this is the price I must pay for trying to earn an honest living, so be it.

Did other passengers intervene in the matter?

The passenger in the front seat took my bag and phone and began recording the video. I didn’t even know him, but he witnessed everything.

Interestingly, the suspect was well-known in that area. Three men arrived at the scene and told me to let him go. They were calling him Friday, saying, ‘Friday, see how this lady is holding you. If it were me, I would show her the stuff I am made of. Madam, e don do now. Leave am, make e dey go.”

I said, ‘Someone stole my battery and beat me up, and you’re asking me to leave him?” I told the man recording the video to post it online so people and human rights activists would see it and help me.

Another man helped me to hold the suspect, and the other three insulted him for interfering. That’s how I got help from LASTMA personnel, and the union at Lekki-Ajah also supported me.

I never knew social media was powerful in Nigeria. There was no policeman nearby, but my voice was heard through social media, and people came to my aid immediately after the video was posted.

What went through your mind during and after the assault?

I wondered why someone would try to rob me in broad daylight in my vehicle. If it had been at night, it would’ve been even worse. It happened in the afternoon, and there were no police or uniformed personnel to rescue me.

I thought, “What kind of country is this?” I kept thinking, “If he had hit me on the head with something, what would’ve happened to me?”

How did other bystanders help you during the fight?

Passersby initially thought it was a fight between boyfriend and girlfriend. It wasn’t until I screamed and cried that he was trying to steal from me and beat me that they intervened. Everyone then started saying I should call the police.

Did you report the incident to the police?

Yes, with the help of the union in the Lekki-Ajah axis. They took us to Maroko Police Station.

What happened at the police station?

I didn’t let go of the guy until we reached the station. When we got there, he tried to escape and started biting me again. We were asked to write statements. On the second day, he was put behind the counter, and we were told the matter would go to court.

The next day, just before court, we were told he had fainted. The union supporting me contacted Alhaji Sego, the head of NURTW in Lagos State, who instructed the Lekki-Ajah unit to take him to the hospital. Eventually, the man was taken to court after he recovered.

Have you ever had similar confrontations or threats before this?

No, that was the first time.

Source: Punch