Abuja's First Female Taxi Driver

Aisha Umar, the Abuja’s pioneer female taxi driver. He writes about the life of a woman who breaks the jinx to succeed in a profession commonly reserved for menfolk
“Reserved for men?” Aisha Umar, a single young mother-of-two from Mubi Local Government Area in Adamawa State and Abuja’s renowned pioneer female taxi driver queried in disagreement when asked why she decided to explore opportunity in a job known to be common with men in Nigeria.
“I am a taxi driver and I’m loving it,” she said. “Some people believe that driving a taxi is a trade exclusively reserved for men and people of low life, but it is a wrong perception. I prefer to earn a decent living through this means than to sit down and beg for money.”
In Abuja where Umar is the first female taxi driver and one of three plying the streets of the cosmopolitan city, there is no mistaken of her identity.
She conveyed the character of a modest hardworking young woman as she disclosed to THISDAY that she sees every challenge as an opportunity. Often referred to as Hajia by her male colleagues on the job, she spoke of how necessity drove her into competing for space in the business dominated by men.