by S’ola Filani

As part of its effort to empower women in the state, the Lagos State Government has employed 80 women as mass transit drivers, with Lagos Bus Asset Management Company, LAGBUS. It has also commenced training of 998 drivers of LAGBUS on accident prevention skills.

Explaining the motive for the employment of the female drivers, General Manager for fleet operation, LAGBUS, Mr. Seyi Osiyemi at the training for the fourth batch of LAGBUS captains at the Public Service Public Service Staff Development Centre, PSSDC Magodo, said “We employed the female drivers to encourage the women who have interest in driving the LAGBUS buses.

“These 80 female have started their training on driving from the basics. These ladies do not have driving experience. We will first train them on how to drive car. After that, they will graduate to smaller buses; after which they will learn how to drive the big bus.

“We expect this process to take between 3- 6 months. The ultimate plan is to have them driving the LAGBUS, the red bus. It takes a lot of time for people to embrace it. We had about 200 women who filled application forms, so we short-listed and started with these first 80. We are also recruiting more males because we are refurbishing 180 buses which will be added to the fleet”. he stated.