A Lagos State mass transportation firm, LAGBUS Asset Management, says it is training 80 women to drive the mass transit buses in the state.
The firm added that it had begun the re-training of 998 LAGBUS drivers, also known as captains, to sharpen their driving skills and keep them abreast of the new driving technology.
Speaking during the 4th batch LAGBUS captain’s training at the Public Service Public Service Staff Development Centre, Magodo, Lagos, the Managing Director, LAGBUS, Babatunde Disu, said the firm was giving life to the government’s vision of creating a modern, secure and sustainable bus transportation service designed for the special needs of Lagos while also providing equal opportunities for the female gender.
He said, “It is important that we bring our drivers out for retraining to update and improve their skills and also to keep them abreast of the technology in the industry. In as much as we want to keep the buses running, it is equally important that we train and retrain our drivers regularly.
“We are training about 998 captains. For Lagbus alone, we have about 400 captains and we have other captains from our franchise operators. It is part of effort to ensure that those behind the wheel have the right attitude and skills to manage the buses”.
The General Manager, Fleet Operation, LAGBUS, Mr Seyi Osiyemi, said the recruitment of the female drivers was to create equal opportunity for the female gender.
He said, “We employed the female drivers to encourage the women who have interest in driving the Lagbus buses. We currently have about 80 of them. They will be starting the driving training from the scratch because these ladies do not have driving experience.
“We will first train them to drive a car, then we will train them to drive a bus after which they will learnt how to drive the big bus. We have signed agreement with a driving training school to train them on how to drive a car and a small bus. Then they will get transferred to our own driving school where they will be trained on how to drive a bus.
“We expect this process to take between 3- 6 months. The ultimate plan is to have them driving our buses.”