SCAMMING FEMALE DRIVERS

A project to train over 200 female cab drivers in the Federal Capital Territory hits the rocks, throwing the women back into the unemployment market

By Torlumun Samuel

Grace Ugoro, an unemployed graduate, was excited when she learnt about the Lady Chauffeur Training Scheme, LCTS. The scheme, initiated by the Abuja Leasing Company, ALC, and supported by the National Directorate of Employment, NDE, was aimed at recruiting not less than 200 ladies as commercial cab drivers in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. The flag-off of the scheme at the State House Abuja by Patience Jonathan, Nigeria’s first lady on Friday, May 4, 2012, heightened Ugoro’s excitement. As far as she was concerned, her years of job searching were coming to an end.

Indeed, it was the opportunity she had been waiting for, she had longed for an opportunity to be self-employed, and the project seemed to her like a dream come true.
While speaking to the magazine at the time, she said: “This is a lifetime opportunity that I don’t intend to play with. I will make sure I do not become only self-employed, but also make a lot of money to assist my family and train my younger ones in school.” But Ugoro’s dream to be a self-employed cab driver in Abuja was soon dashed after training for two months. The ALC, which was supposed to provide them the cabs on lease, reneged.

Eno Bassey, a graduate of Business Management, University of Calabar, Cross River State, who was also selected among numerous applicants to benefit from the scheme, also suffered a similar fate. She even resigned from a job at a private hotel to be able to concentrate on the training. She was hopeful that the scheme would also provide her opportunity for self-employment. Bassey told the magazine at the time that the sponsors of the scheme told them that the cabs were already on ground for them to take immediately after the training. She saw the organisers’ commitment to the project and decided to resign her job to concentrate on the training.

Beneficiaries were to be given basic training of two months to qualify for the job. But after the training by Aso Driving School, which ended in July 2012, the trainees are yet to get the cabs as was promised. Some of the trainees who spoke to the magazine believe that the sponsors deceived them and it was all aimed at scoring political goals for the women empowerment campaign. They lamented that instead of empowering them, the project had further impoverished them because they have lost money and time. Some of the trainees, who counted their losses, said they now live in frustration.

Inemesit Akpan, another victim and one of the 75 trainees certified as competent drivers by Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, sold her personal belongings to meet up with the upfront payment of N295,000 required by ALC as one of the conditions for the release of the vehicle. Akpan and the other beneficiaries at the end of the training were certified by FRSC as competent drivers qualified to be given the vehicles. They were also invited by the NDE through text messages informing them of their qualification and to come to the headquarters to begin the process for the release of the vehicles.

Akpan explained: “When we went there, they showed us all the conditions, we have no choice than to accept. To meet up the N295,000 upfront payment and other financial requirements I had to sell my electronic sets and also borrow from different sources. Now, things have gone awry, I have returned the money I borrowed but what about my property? This is not fair.”

The magazine gathered that for ALC to supply the trainees with the vehicles, each person was to make an upfront payment of N295,000 and submit 36 post-dated cheques of the sum of N31,944 representing monthly rental for 36 months lease facilities. They were also to present four post-dated cheques of N32,500 for second and third year insurance and N20,000 to cover third year tracker renewal. In terms of guarantors, each trainee willing to get a car was to produce a civil servant of grade level 12 and above, or a banker at the management level or a military officer, an equivalent of a major in the Nigerian Army and above.

The magazine also learnt that, even with the stringent conditions issued by ALC after the training, which contradicted the earlier terms of the project, some trainees fulfilled these conditions. But ALC still reneged on it promise. NDE, surprisingly, has also distanced itself from the failed project, saying it had done its part of the collaboration. Victoria Awosimo, director of Small Scale Enterprises, who spoke on behalf of the director-general of NDE, said constant changes of rules of engagement by the initiators, ALC, was responsible for the failure of the project. According to Awosimo, ALC approached NDE October 28, 2011 and requested for female drivers for employment ahead of its plan to introduce Abuja pink cabs, vehicles for women and children to be driven by women, and the NDE accepted.

“When we finished training the beneficiaries, they (ALC) wrote us on December 5, 2012 reviewing the vehicle cost of the Lady Chauffeur Scheme to N1,300,000. Yet some trainees were ready to pay. But in their letter of March 18, 2013 the condition demanded was out of the mandate of NDE. They requested that NDE must accept corporate guarantorship for the trainees before the cabs would be given to the beneficiaries. This was simply out of our mandate. They have issued three memos to review terms of agreement,” she explained.

NDE is also accusing ALC of double-speak in respect of the provision of the vehicles they promised the trainees. Awosimo said as at November 2012, the ALC told NDE it had 50 units of the refurbished Peugeot 307 available out of the 200 vehicles they claimed were available in 2011. Awosimo said she noted that the number of vehicles was inadequate for the 75 certified trainees. She said even when trainees where ready to fulfil the conditions of acquiring the vehicles, ALC in December 2012, came up to say it had only eight remaining. Now, the NDE is saying it had little or nothing to do over the failed project because “ALC has changed the earlier agreement and is claiming they cannot go below the market price. They have spent money to refurbish these vehicles and there is no way they can sell below the price.”

Efforts to get official response from ALC did not yield the desired result as Tunji Tolani, the managing director of the company was not available to respond to the magazine’s inquiry. However, a senior officer of the company, who spoke on conditions of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak on behalf of the company, said ALC is in business to make money. According to him, the payment conditions were not stringent. The source said that ALC has learnt from the past mistake when clients who got its vehicles and ran away with them. He said, “People should not begin to think that because we indicated interest in the empowerment of women we have to give our cabs for free. We are a business organisation and we cannot entertain losses. That is why we wanted a corporate guarantor. If we must take the risk, we want other partners like NDE to contribute their quota,” said the source.

SOURCE: http://www.tellng.com/business/scamming-female-drivers

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