Nehemiah Aso: Tales of a former taxi driver turned instructor, now owns 60 cars
Aso Driving School, one of the several such schools offering driving instructions to would-be drivers in Abuja was started by a former taxi driver, Mr Nehemiah Aso.
The transportation entrepreneur from Kaduna State told Daily Trust of how he started with just one car as a taxi driver in Abuja. He told our reporter that he now owns 60 cars with training schools operating in several states in Nigeria including Niger and Kaduna.
Mr Aso in interview with Daily Trust said, “I came to Abuja in 1992, learnt how to drive in Kubwa and started driving a taxi in 2001. I met a man in Area 1 who rented my car while I went on break to eat and have a siesta in the afternoon to teach would-be drivers in his driving school”.
“When his clients increased, he told me that I could achieve double income if I could also train some of the students that he will pay for hiring my car and for training the students. I accepted and started, after some days, some of the students said they preferred me than my proprietor and that motivated me to start my driving school in 2002 with one car,” Aso said.
He said his business began to grow as the graduates kept referring others and he expanded and hired more hands. “I then bought more cars and scheduled training hours. I am the first in Abuja to introduce a theory class for them to understand highway codes or road signs. Most of my clients said they have been introduced by my former students”.
Six years into the automobile instruction school, Aso said he registered his company with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in 2008 and has since then been issuing certificates to graduates from the school.
The Chairman of Aso Driving School highlighted some challenges that come with the business including the risk of careless and speedprone drivers hitting a student and causing accidents despite the obvious ‘L’ (Learner) sign hung on a vehicle.
To reduce this risk, he always cautions the instructors to be more careful and that if an accident happened, it could affect the staff salary; there is a clause for the students to sign in their admission form to pay if they damaged the car. So in an accident with third parties, they would be responsible and that makes all of them to be cautious all the time.
Aso said he insured the cars on third party basis and not on comprehensive basis because it is cumbersome to make a claim.
Speaking about the business prospects, he said “Operating a driving school is profitable as the clients pay in full before the commencement of training. And I made the “biggest-hit” when I won the bid to train 200 women sponsored by the former First lady, Mrs Patience Jonathan through the Agency for Mass Literacy.”
Aso who now boasted of 60 cars said he had some staff who teach the students and the fleet of cars are in good condition, but he sells those that are not in good condition and replace them with good ones.
He noted that would-be drivers often pay a fee of N35,000 for one month, and N25,000 for a two-week crash programme. He however recommended that the three month duration was the best.
Another challenge he highlighted was the need to have a range of roads dedicated for driving lessons. “Driving school operators need a big driving school with a range of roads as it is not proper to train people on abandoned roads. We should emulate other places like China where they have a driving range for learners with a simulator as safety is very vital,” he said.
The first National Chairman of the Association of Driving Instructors in Nigeria (ADIN) said he recently handed over to his successor adding that they are grateful for the regulation of their activities by the Federal Roads Safety Commission (FRSC) for the about 30 schools around Abuja.