bethnals:

she is single o Make your move

otokx:

she is married with 2 kids only the husband is still in Algeria.

Kzinne: Other countries are talking about the first female astronaut- u're all here blabbing

val_dubem: I once entered her taxi (drop) and she over-charged me

alpha conde: Most women will say what a man can do a woman can do. Some don't even know the inspiration in that. Anyway am still searching for female barbers and electricians and bricklayers

pekelepekele: Most ladies always prefer selling their kitties than working . Learn body bleachers

dnative: God bless her hustle!

Eazee-e:


i tink u deserve an award 4 quoting d whole story only 2 write OK. I truely dont understand wat Kindergertens are doing on dis site. May God b her strenght jare. But i bet dis same woman canot try dis in 1 of dos countries wia d RELIGION OF PEES is d same as d constitution. Dat is wat freedom can giv u, not bondage by dat religion. God knows her head wud hav been rolling by now. Woman Spread d gospel of freedom 2 ur peeps up dia in Northern Nigeria, Mali,Pakistan,Iran,Afganistan,Saudi Arabia e.t.c Tel dem its only Christianity dat can grant such liberty.

Brand_new: Wow! She's even attractive. Women are really pushing the boundries especially muslim women.
Btw she should be charging double.

joyblinks: this isnt news jaire.

come to port harcourt, u will find younger and older women driving taxi's and buses... not new to me.

val_dubem: I once entered her taxi (drop) and she over-charged me

bethnals:

she is single o Make your move

rodeo0070: Curiosity. That was the main reason for choosing to ride in Ms. Aisha Umar’s taxi in the Federal Capital Territory on Friday. RASHEED BISIRIYU reports his encounter with the first female taxi driver in Abuja

Ms Aisha Umar has been a taxi driver in Abuja for over five years. Her handling of the vehicle is professional. She calls out for passengers and attends to matters relating to her job cheerfully and promptly too. She is never shy; and almost every day, she has had to answer questions, especially from many inquisitive male passengers. That, she does, courteously.

According to her, taxi business was the last thing on her mind when she dropped out of the university over 10 years ago.

She was in her second year studying Public Administration at the University of Abuja when she became pregnant.

Her initial plan was to take a break for one year to have her baby and then return to the school to complete her studies.

But the plan failed and that changed her course.

Today, Aisha, a 33 year old single parent, is a taxi driver in the FCT. She is the first lady taxi driver in the nation’s capital.

She was the only woman in the business for over five years until about six months ago when another lady took up the job at the FCT, apparently impressed by Aisha’s success.

And business has been good, she admits.

According to her, she pays her rents and takes care of the family with what she makes from the taxi.

Five years is a lot of time to perfect the commercial driving act and most people are not surprised that the lady handles the steering, driving around the city, picking and dropping passengers with a high level of dexterity.

Aisha, a mother of two, told our correspondent why she had to abandon her trading business and went into taxi business. She said it started by accident.

She had returned from Algeria, leaving her husband behind when it was obvious that the marriage would not work. She came back to Abuja with two kids, a boy and a girl.

She immediately went into trading and was dealing in clothing materials.

As a lively woman, many liked to patronise her.

She bought a car, a Nissan Sunny. It helped her to move the wares around, supply interested friends while she collected money later.

Only few paid for the materials on delivery; many bought on credit. The debt kept mounting and it was beginning to affect the business. She was fed up but she could not call it quits because there was no other means of survival.

One Saturday, she set out to meet some of her debtors. It was all stories, Aisha said. She became dejected. The fuel in her car was running low and she needed to top it up but there was no money.

As she was driving back home, dejectedly, a middle-aged man who appeared stranded, having waited for a cab for about an hour, flagged her down. Aisha stopped, almost absent-mindedly.

The guy asked if she could take him to Asokoro. She agreed and got N350 for the effort. And as soon as the man alighted from the car, another man entered and paid N400 for a journey of about the same distance. That was how it started.

She said, “At Wuse, a man stopped me and asked if he could help get more passangers into the car at N50 each and I accepted. And I got N250 on the short trip.

“That first day, I went home with N1,700, that was after I had filled my tank with N2,300 worth of fuel.”

The next day, she hit the road very early. And since then, she has not looked back.

Aisha has changed her car. It was in 2008, a year after she started the taxi business. She bought another Nissan Sunny for N650,000. It was an imported used car, but a newer model.

She has not set eyes on her estranged husband since they parted many years ago. But she is not bothered about that. As long as her taxi business is not hampered in any way that will affect the upkeep of her children, she is happy.
SOURCE: www.punchng.com/business/transport/why-i-operate-a-taxi-abuja-female-driver/