By Abolaji Adebayo and Motolani AbdulGafar
Women driving the commercial tricycles better known as Marwa in Oshodi, Isolo and Ejigbo council areas are seeking the support of the government or donors to reduce the costs of entering the business and attract more women to use the trade to support their families.
Most of them get the tricycle on hire purchase by paying half the price of used ones to start the business, then pay the balance in instalments over a period of three to six months.
Summoning the courage to enter a business that was dominated by men was a major entry challenge, according to them in interviews conducted by ECHONEWS.
Narrating her journey to the job of tricycle driving from networking, Ngozi Okafor told ECHONEWS that she left her former job when she realised she was not making enough money from it.
“I was into networking job for five years at Oshodi where we had to make referrals and get compensated on each individual we brought. Despite my years of participation, I didn’t get something better as I could hardly fend for myself before even thinking of savings. But ever since I started this job, I have always been able to make my little ends meet.”
She noted that she almost lost her initial interest in the job as majority of her friends and relatives were discouraging her to be a commercial driver.
“When I first started this job, I was always hiding my face so that people who live on the same street with me would not know the type of the job I’m doing. But, the very day I coincidentally met my best friend with whom I did networking job, there was an unspeakable confidence that erupted in me and ever since, that has kept me going.
“My friend challenged me that day and tried to convince me to leave the job but the moment I was able to make my stand as a commercial driver, I had all determination and became focused to keep moving.
Timileyin Omotosho, a former Lotto agent, is another female Maruwa driver who makes her living by conveying passengers in Isolo.
Speaking to ECHONEWS, Timileyin said she earlier had interest in commercial driving earlier being a tomboy but did not know how to start.
After noticing that the lotto job was not bringing in enough money as the sales dropped due to more people going into the business, she summoned the courage to learn how to drive Maruwa as she needed to support her husband to cater for their two children.
Apart from supporting her husband, she said she is the first child of her own parents and the breadwinner of the family, claiming that she could not continue to wait on her husband before she provides for her family.
Her words: “When I realised that there was no more sales in lotto as many people ventured into the business, I quit but I needed to do something to make money. I didn’t want salaried job because as a School Certificate holder, I would not get a job of more than N15,000 so I decided to go into commercial driving that can fetch me daily earnings. When I decided to start this job in June last year, I gathered all my savings to get a second hand Maruwa which I’m still using now. I paid the owner half of the money with the promise that I would be paying the remaining half in bits which I have been doing.
She said she got into the business with a lot of fear.
“I was so much afraid when I started but I overcame the fear the day I had accident and since then, I have been on my feet. Even now, I can drive commercial bus if I have the opportunity because I have so much courage now.”
From her new job, Timileyin makes between N120, 000 and N150, 000 monthly, confirming her daily earnings to be between N4, 000 and N5, 000.
For Omowunmi Solanke, the inconveniences of salaried job encouraged her to go into the business of driving tricycles.
She revealed that being a divorcee with two kids, her monthly salary was not sufficient for survival which was what motivated her to take up her current job.
Her words: “I’m the breadwinner of my little kids and they depend solely on me because we hardly get any family support. Then, my monthly salary would not be available in period of emergency and would sometimes be half spent through borrowing before the end of the month. So, I decided to take up a job that can fetch me money daily.
“I have a trusted neighbour that I usually leave my kids with after school before my arrival because this job is so tiresome that sometimes I might just be taking breakfast at 5pm when I close for the day and I would, at the same time, want to rest before going home because I like giving my kids attention.” she said.
How do their male counterparts react to their “invasion” of a trade they dominated?
Ngozi said it was not easy at the beginning but the relationship between both sexes has improved.
“Our male counterparts, I think due to ego, usually say why are we women doing this job and they try to show that superiority. But for me, I would just ignore them and get concentrated which has earned me self-respect.”
For Omowunmi Solanke, a member of National Commercial Motorcycle and Tricycles Owners and Riders Association of Nigeria (NCMTORAN), Ejigbo branch, her relationship with her male counterparts has been wonderful despite being a woman among them.
She said: “Although when I just started as a Maruwa driver, my male peers were always trying to scare me but I have personally lectured myself to have a brave heart because of the nature of the job. Over the time, they accepted me and treated me like one of them. Then I noticed that it’s not the fact that I’m a female that made them relate with me that way but that they were only being authoritative because I was new among them as they did the same for those that came after me.”
Speaking on other challenges of the job especially for the women, Timileyin said: “The challenges are much and multi-dimensional. First, some passengers would look at us as someone who has wasted her life. Some would even say we ventured into driving Maruwa because we are suffering and advise us to learn good work or go to school. The harassment is mostly from the female passengers but with time, I get over it, I just neglect them and face my job.
She says, part of the job is managing the amorous advances of male passengers.
“Though there is no discrimination against us as many male passengers even love to board a Maruwa driven by female driver, many of them make love advances to us, thinking all the female commercial drivers are so cheap to fall for them. But as I said, it all depends on one’s determination. As for me, I can never render myself useless because I am a driver. That is why I’m working.”
She advised other women who are jobless to venture into a business rather than messing themselves around looking for men to give them money and encouraged them to summon courage and join commercial driving, saying it is more lucrative and less risky.
She therefore appealed to the government to support the female ones who summon the courage to venture into commercial driving by giving them grants or buying them Maruwa.