Danfo Dairies - Episode 1

Danfo conductors are misunderstood beings

I know you are looking at this title and wondering what this is. If you are conversant with Lagos enough, you should have an idea what this newsletter is about. But whether you have an idea or not, come settle in and enjoy this little world of mine.

As the Lagos boy that life has made me become since I finished university, commuting to work via the commercial buses in Lagos - aka Danfo buses - has become part of my daily routine. Uber prices in this country are too expensive biko. Almost every time I have to go somewhere, whether work or anywhere, I go with the wonderful yellow commercial buses.

Being quite the observer, as time has gone on, I have made mental notes of different things I have noticed with both the drivers and the conductors. Quite interesting beings, I must say.

One of the first things I noticed was how danfo drivers and conductirs, especially the conductors, are quite misunderstood.

There is a general conception that all the danfo conductors are rude, want to cheat you of your balance and that they are generally uncouth.

Well, I think that notion is a misconception. I don't think it's true.

I beleive those men are quite misunderstood. And while there actually are a few rude and insane ones, some of them actually behave reactively.

Here's what I mean.

The cycle is nasty. A passenger enters a bus expecting the conductor to be rude, then behaves rudely to the conductor, the conductor returns the energy, then they say the conductor is rude. To me, I beleive they are just reacting to the way they are treated. And this is a pattern I have come to notice. And even with the balance allegation. Most of the drivers and conductors end up giving everybody their balance. If they don't give a complete balance, a respectful reminder is enough.

My mode of operation is always simple and the same. Be polite, calm headed, smart and mind my business. And most times, they have been nice to me. I've seen a lot who even apologise when they do something. When I receive an incomplete balance, I politely go "boss, abeg, my change never complete" (Boss, please, my balance is incomplete). And then they also politely go "ah abeg, sorry, no vex. How much I suppose give you? Collect abeg" (Oh, please, I'm sorry. How much was I meant to give you. Please, have your balance)

My point is, we are mostly unfair to those men. Are there some rude and crazy ones? Yes. And you also need to be a little crazy to deal with them. But are some of them actually the victims? Yes. Some Nigerians can just be rude, impolite, loud people.

So I believe danfo drivers and conductors are misunderstood. If Nigerians just became more polite and treated everyone else nicely, we would see how nice and gentle a lot of these guys truly are. They are just running their daily hustle. If you want to frustrate them, they will definitely lash back at you. It's only normal.

People will call me crazy for defending danfo drivers and conductors. But please, let's cut them a little slack, shall we?