Conversations with taxi drivers

Mr. Sunday Jimoh who has been a taxi driver in Abuja since 1998, was the first of the drivers I came across when I decided to capture their stories.He turned out to be  the funniest of the lot. Wearing his Yoruba attire and a colourful cap, the Osun born driver had a lot to say. […]

Mr. Sunday Jimoh who has been a taxi driver in Abuja since 1998, was the first of the drivers I came across when I decided to capture their stories.He turned out to be  the funniest of the lot. Wearing his Yoruba attire and a colourful cap, the Osun born driver had a lot to say. The first question I ask is, “how are you faring? I’m aware Abuja’s Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO) are very fearsome in the city.” It’s a question all the drivers can easily relate to, so it allows them to open up on other issues.
“My brother, Abuja VIO are not human beings, because a human being will listen to you when you beg or cry. But if you enter their trap and they arrest you, if you like cry all the time, you must reach their office. On getting there you start the lengthy procedure of reclaiming your car before paying a hefty sum. It’s terrible, among all my friends that are drivers, I’m the only one not to have entered their trap before and I thank the Almighty,” he said.
I also entered the cab of Daniel who follows all the important radio shows on a particular radio station. “Bros, from early in the  morning when I start this work around 5:30am, I don’t change stations. This  is my only station because they say the truth in their news, and if it’s correct music they have it, so I don’t change stations at all,” all the while he was miming the music playing on the radio.
The next was Sani who, if not for the fact that he stopped and asked if I needed to go to somewhere, I wouldn’t have spoken to him. He was neatly dressed as  a banker would, and spoke perfect English “I start this work by 5am and close by 11pm just to complement whatever I get from my workplace. In fact no one close to me knows I do this job.If not for the fact that I stopped, I’m sure you wouldn’t have stopped me,” he asked.
He went on to complain of how inadequate today’s salaries are, which necessitates this kind of arrangement to stay afloat, adding that he plans to marry by next year. So it is important to go the extra mile to get ready before the time comes.
Mr. Tunji, another taxi driver, was more concerned with the Politics of the country, telling me stories of how Abiola would have been Nigeria’s best president, assuming he had been  allowed to assume power in 1993. “There’s no politics today, my brother. The politicians are just forcing themselves on us. Abiola remains the last true person to win an election in Nigeria,” he said passionately.
Another interesting conversation was the one I had with Isah, who I believe is as young as 19 or 20 years. He said he collects the car from his friend every evening and returns it by 9pm. He  recalls with pride his driving expertise, which made the Federal Road Safety Corps officials unable to arrest him on one occasion when he was pursued.
“I trust this car very well. That’s why I’m not afraid of being pursued. In fact the Road Safety had to give up after pursuing me. The funny thing was that hours later I passed their unit in another car, and I recognized the officers, but they didn’t know it was me,” he laughed.

For another Taxi driver, John, the season is all about the forthcoming Christmas celebrations, and how he would want to spend the joyous period with his family “This is December and  everyone needs money,” he said after first objecting to my pricing of the transport fare, before going on to tell me how he has been saving for months now, in order to travel to Enugu with enough money for the yuletide “My sister visited me last month  and when she was going I had to settle her well because she was going back to school. That disrupted my budget, so one has to keep working to meet up,” John said.

The most interesting of the lot was Oga Seun, who  kept complaining of the high cost of living in Abuja throughout the ride, and why the city’s poor can’t save anything “My brother, this Abuja is not for the poor man. The big men have already planned Abuja for themselves. Every day, I don’t eat food of less than N2,000, not to talk of rent, school fees and other expenses. That’s why I have been advising anyone who says he wants to come, to stay back and do something there. It’s better because here it is difficult, everything is expensive,” he complained.
For the  last driver, Michael, what sparked off our conversation was a programme being aired on the car radio, and it centred around ladies who after collecting monies and gifts from men, ditch them for others “You can imagine, after spending on the lady  and her family, then you say you are no longer interested. She must repay whatever I spent on her, I won’t leave her,” he opined, while listening to the opinions of other callers, who phoned  in to contribute to the discussion.
At the end I realised that everyone needs someone to talk to, someone he can easily connect to. Considering the fact that most passengers don’t say a word when they enter their cabs, those drivers found our conversations refreshing and most, as I  disembarked, would say “nice meeting you sir.”