Ukalabi Brigette Ijang: Hitting The Road Like Male Drivers

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Ukalabi Brigette Ijang: Hitting The Road Like Male Drivers

14 mars 2022 14:23

Barely eight months in the inter-urban transport business, she said the gains are worth the troubles.

One woman is currently braving the odd in the male dominated public transportation sector in Fako Division of the South West Region and ferrying passengers from Buea to Limbe. Each day she begins work at the Mile 17 bus station in Buea where she makes at least five trips to Limbe and back to Buea. The transport fare is FCFA 1000 per person and she is sure of returning home with the minimum of FCFA 12 000 after all expenses for the day including refilling her tank have been deducted. Ukalabi Brigette Ijang starts driving at 7:30 A.M and closes at 3 P.M. She then returns home at Bolifamba (Mile 16) where she plays her role as a house wife and mother. She cooks for her family and keep the house in order. Ukalabi Brigette Ijang was born in Kumba in 1976 though her ancestral roots are in Momo Division in the North West Region. She has been married to Eneigho Abraham, a welder, for the past 24 years and the union is blessed with two daughters.

The 46 year-old got into the inter-urban transportation business in August 2021 when she left her previously job as security at Chariot Construction Company in Buea. She says the unfavourable business climate hampered by the socio-political upheavals in the North West and South West Regions pushed many of them out of their jobs. “After leaving my job at Chariot Company, I decided to embrace driving. At first my husband was very scared but I assured him that I will be okay. I told him that I ne...