‘My friends were amazed’: Nigerian women break ‘male’ jobs barrier amid cost-of-living crisis

Lilian Ezeugwu says driving taxis in Lagos gives her more flexibility as a single parent than her old job running an arts centre. Photograph: Promise Eze

At the Owode Ede bus stop, Bunmi Adewale steers her brightly painted yellow auto rickshaw with one hand, using the other to gesture to passengers to hop in. Her rent is due, and she has to get up and be out by 6am, to earn as much as possible. “My job is a challenging one, but I have no choice but to engage in it to fend for my family,” says Adewale, a mother of two from Kwara state, in the west of Nigeria.

Her husband works as a primary school teacher, earning less than the the minimum wage and, according to Adewale, not enough to cover the needs of their household.