Most vehicles owners who give out their vehicles to drivers for commercial purposes have had tales of woes to tell about the agreed financial returns by the drivers. Very few have confirmed that they have been well-treated by their drivers or that they have made the expected profits from the business. This is because most of the drivers who work with their vehicles are more concerned about enriching themselves with the daily proceeds and the desire to get their own vehicles than abiding by the agreement to remit a certain amount to their proprietors after deducting their own share and paying their conductors.
This amount, LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered, depended on the vehicle type: it was N2,000 for cars,N4,000 or N5,000 for buses, depending on the number of seats the bus has.
It was also gathered that though some of the drivers made close to N15,000 per day, they still found it difficult to remit N4,000 to the person who laboured so hard to purchase the vehicle for the purpose of making some profit.
For a commercial bus-owner in Abuja, Mr. Raphael Onoja, his experience with drivers was not one he recalled with happiness. “I don’t? know why every one of them seems to be the same.
They always come up with stories, as excuses for not paying the amount they are supposed to remit each day. It is either they tell you that the vehicle had a problem or that they were caught by the police or the VIO.
“They never run short of something to say. I have had five drivers and funny enough, they all have the same character. The only time you enjoy their services is the first two weeks, which is the only time they remit my daily pay to me. After then they begin to come up with excuses, one of which is telling you that the vehicle did not go to work that day, because it developed some faults,” he narrated.
Onoja also said that he felt that the drivers in his employ “misbehave,” because he refused to release his vehicles to them to take to their houses, and that because of that, he decided to change tact with his new drivers, by letting them take the vehicles home to see if they would become more accountable.
“No. They turned out to be worse than the former ones. At first, when I started I did not allow them to take the buses home. After each day’s work, they had to bring it back tomy place. After a while, I decided to let the vehicle be parked at the driver’s house. I released my vehicle to be parked at his place, because I felt the drivers I hired previously were misbehaving because I was being hard on them. But I realised that the driver I gave the privilege turned out to be the worst of the lot, because I would not see him for days and when I asked him he told me that the vehicle developed a fault,” he added.
“When an individual gives out his vehicle to a driver for commercial purposes, there is an agreement which entails that the owner takes responsibility for the servicing and renewal of document, while the driver takes care of minor issues such as fuel-buying and fixing of minor faults which the vehicle develops in the course of work.
“He had this habit of telling me that he used the money he was to remit to me to attend to my own part of the agreement without notifying me!” He said.
a taxi driver, Muftau Ade, who once drove for someone before he purchased his own, told LEADERSHIP Sunday that while he remit ted N12,000 every week to the owner of the vehicle, he was also responsible for fixing any minor fault the vehicle developed.
“Before I bought my own vehicle, I was using someone else’s for commercial purpose. I agreed to remit N2,000 to the owner on a daily basis, so I brought N12,000 to him every Sunday. But I was responsible for taking care of all faults developed by the vehicle in the course of work, servicing and other major issues. But the owner of the car had to make ensure that the documents of the vehicle was complete, and renewed every six months. The vehicle could stay for as long as six months without developing any fault, depending on how sound it was.”
Muftau claimed he was faithful to the agreement, except for periods (which were very rare) when the vehicle developed mechanical faults which needed to be fixed urgently.
“Whenever the vehicle developed a problem and I needed to fix it, I used to tell the owner before I deducted from what I agreed to remit to him, except in cases when the problem needed to be fixed urgently.”
In his own case, a bus driver within the city, Honesty James, told LEADERSHIP Sunday that at times some drivers have had to spend part of what was meant to be remitted to vehicle owners on repairs when they (owners) neglected their responsibilities.
“At times the engine might have problems and when you call the owner after remitting the agreed amount, he might not want to give out money for the repair of the vehicle. In that case the driver may be forced to spend part of the daily income on the repair of the vehicle, instead of remitting all to the owner.”
James however urged commercial vehicle owners to endeavour to put their vehicles in order before giving them out to drivers, so that they would stop using mechanical faults as excuses for their greed.
“But before you give your bus to someone,? you have to ensure that all the parts; the engine, tires and every other thing is in order,” he added.
According to him, anyone who wants to succeed in life should strive to be honest.
“If you cheat the person you work for, you are also cheating yourself, because whatever you sow, that shall you reap. If you drive for someone,do it as if it is your own, because one day you will have your own. If, however, you cheat, whoever you release your own to to drive, will definitely do the same thing to you.
“Also, if you cheat someone, the money can not be blessed and you cannot use it for something tangible. All such people do with the money is flirt around with girls,” he said.