Battling the traffic in Lagos, Nigeria's economic capital, Amaka Okoli is one woman among many joining the traditionally male ranks driving the city's commercial 'danfo' buses. The 38-year-old mother of two was a banker until three years ago. "It's a means of livelihood now to get food on the table," she explains, as Nigeria suffers its worst economic crisis in a generation.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00To be a downfall driver, a life of downfall,
00:29a life of a female, you have to be very strong.
00:32Because somebody can just come from anywhere and enter your line,
00:35hit your car, and you cannot just keep watching them.
00:39You have to fight back.
00:42It's not an easy, it's not a quiet time.
00:44Even if you are quiet, as soon as you start doing the job,
00:47you will be forced to talk.
00:49You will be forced to fight.
00:59We find ourselves in Nigeria here.
01:09When you get home, no matter what you do,
01:11you are still expected to do what is waiting for you.
01:15You will still do your cooking.
01:17You will still do it.
01:19Our work waits for us here.
01:22Especially for me, my work waits for me.
01:25I will still do my cooking, attend to my children,
01:28and even prepare them for the next day,
01:30because very early in the morning, again, I'm going out.
01:33So I work till about 12 or 11.30 at home.
01:39To the situation of the country,
01:42everybody starts doing what anybody can do.
01:46And that's where we find ourselves today.
01:49There are women who are now merged in that place.
01:54To the situation of the country,
01:57everybody starts doing what anybody can do.
02:00And that's where we find ourselves today.
02:04There are women who are now merged in that place.
02:12It's just nowadays that women now take over the transportation industry.
02:21Before, it was just for men.
02:24More ladies are still coming.
02:26More will even come to meet me.
02:28They ask, please, can you teach me how to drive?
02:30That they like driving.
02:32So it's not as if they enjoy driving.
02:34It's because it's a means of livelihood now to get food on the table.
02:42So as a Nigerian woman, we have to be strong.
02:45We have to be supportive.
02:49We are everything.
02:51Yes, we are.
02:54We are their backbone.
02:56Without us, they can't do.
02:58I'm telling you.
03:19For more UN videos visit www.un.org