Meet Kaduna grandpa who drives himself at 77

Alhaji Ahmed-Rufai Adio was born on April 20, 1939 in Kwara State. He attended Elementary school in Aba, now Abia State from 1944 to 1951. In 1955, he returned to Ilorin where he spent a year and some months before moving to Kaduna in search of greener pastures in May, 1957. He gained employment on […]

Alhaji Ahmed-Rufai Adio was born on April 20, 1939 in Kwara State. He attended Elementary school in Aba, now Abia State from 1944 to 1951. In 1955, he returned to Ilorin where he spent a year and some months before moving to Kaduna in search of greener pastures in May, 1957. He gained employment on September 21, 1959 into the Civil Service of Kaduna State where he worked in the Ministry of Works till 1979. He was later posted to the Budget Office of the Ministry of Finance, where he remained until his retirement. At 77, he still drives himself, as he told Daily Trust in the following interview.

Daily Trust: At the age of 77, you still drive yourself. When did you start and for how long have you been driving now?
Alhaji Ahmed-Rufai Adio: During my service year, I was the personal assistant to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry where I served. He assigned me to the Commissioner of Works and I was given a driver. Each time I was given an assignment, I was always comfortable sitting with the driver. I began to watch closely how he was changing gears, applying the brakes and all of that. That was it.
I started driving in 1965, though I bought my own car in 1967 and until recently, I still travel outside Kaduna to places like Lagos and Ilorin myself. In 1981 when I was to attend a conference in Port Harcourt, there used to be hoodlums on the roads then, so I called my driver to take me there by 7:00am. But he didn’t come as scheduled, so I used my personal car to travel all alone.
DT: How has it been, driving yourself?
Adio: Very interesting. I love driving. I have a passion for driving, so it’s part of me. Even if I have a driver, I will feel he is not driving me well.
DT: Having sat beside drivers in the past, how will you compare drivers of the olden days and now?
Adio: In those days, before you are issued a driver’s license, you must have undergone rigorous driving tests, and you must have at least one year driving experience. But nowadays I don’t see VIOs and drivers going on road tests, so there’s lower quality out there today.
DT: Which type of car do you drive, manual or automatic?
Adio: Anybody who drives an automatic car is not a driver because if you go to the manual arrangement, you will find it difficult to manipulate but when you master the manual system, automatic is just like child’s play.
DT: Do you use glasses to drive?
Adio: I don’t use eyeglasses. I went for medical check-up recently and I was given glasses, but I told them it makes no difference with my naked eyes. When I put them on, what it shows me is not different. So till this point, I still drive – and read – without eyeglasses.
DT: Considering the ever-increasing number of people driving on our roads, how do you think government can improve the lifespan of roads?
Adio: People in charge of planning and development must think ahead and plan, because we have a large population, and you have to plan and accommodate the growth ahead.
I attended a seminar some years back at royal institute of Public Administration. They took us to a small town which is a big city now. If you see their master plan, it took care of the present and the future, so that in time to come, it will still be relevant to the people.
DT: Based on your experience, travelling from one state to the other on road, what is your assessment of Nigeria roads?
Adio: The bad condition of our roads makes one to wonder if there is a government in place. There is no road regulation because the roads are bad, no lane markers on some roads.
Let me tell you a short story: There was an officer when I was in the Ministry of Works and he was in charge of roads. He was to discuss the road network in Nigeria in a conference in Lagos, and they bought an air ticket to take him to Lagos, you know what he said? ‘How do they expect me to fly to Lagos to discuss the road network in Nigeria? How would I see the roads I will be discussing?’
Today, government officials don’t use the roads, so they don’t know how bad they are. It is because there is no regular flight from Kaduna to Abuja, that is why they are still plying Kaduna-Abuja road.
Even the security agencies are not helping matters at all. They are not there to help road users, they are only there to help their pockets but with this new government, I have hope that things will turn around.
In those days, some of the roads we had were narrow but safe. Now they are wider, but unsafe.