My vision is to put well-trained drivers on Nigerian roads —Olamiju

What prompted the vision of establishing a driving school?

It was borne out of doing something unique, but everything about me and the business, just like the name of the company – His Wisdom Nigeria Enterprises or His Wisdom Driving School – is the wisdom of God. God gave me money and he led me to use the money to acquire an old Volkswagen car and when I got it, he told me to start a driving school. So, God is my mentor and my aim is to promote safety of drivers on the road and to raise qualified, valid and well-trained drivers.

 

How have you been able to maintain the driving school all these years?

I have been able to maintain it by the grace of God and I am someone who has an ideology of wealth creation. I believe in making young people job givers rather than job seekers. So, whenever I see young people, I encourage them to do something with their head, most especially encouraging some of them to join me in what I do. So, maintaining the business has been all about team work, people all around me working together with me to forge ahead. Not that alone, I do not believe in cutting corners. I believe in maintaining standard and orders, that has also been some kind of propelling front and you see people talk about us having integrity, because we are trying to keep to the standard of the job in our own little way.

 

What are your achievements so far in this line of business?

God has really helped us in Ekiti State to soar so high among equals and rating as the best, if I am not wrong, in the state. God has really helped us to train thousands of people in Ekiti State and outside the State. We have also been able to train so many uniform men, Nigerian Correctional Services, NYSC and FRSC officers, among others. We have also been able to strategise in making sure that safety driving, right driving culture is being established in Ekiti State. These are parts of our testimonies so far and up till now. We remain the only driving school presently advertising what driving school is on radio and television in Ekiti State. We are also on Google map which enables people from far and near, to reach us anytime they search for anything related to driving school in Ekiti state. We have also been able to register with and be recognised by relevant agencies such as, FIRS, CAC and FRSC.

 

Would you say you were able to achieve this much because you were not married when you started the business?

No, I wouldn’t say that. Like I said, it has been God and the fact that I was focused and determined and with God helping me, I was able to achieve all that. I wouldn’t say it was because I was single, because those who are married out there and would like to start a business, they should not think because they are married, they cannot start a business and be successful in it. All it requires is to believe in God and be focused. They should not also mind starting small, I was once a shoe cobbler, I was into mending of broken plastic as a teenager and since God gave me the vision of starting this driving school business, I have given it my all, I have been focused and determined, which is the reason behind my success. It doesn’t matter if I was married or not.

 

What do you intend to achieve in this driving school business apart from making profit in the next 10 to 20 years?

My vision is to produce numbers of qualified drivers on our roads, not just in Ekiti State or Southwest Nigeria alone, but across the nation. I want to produce people that abide with the rules and regulations of driving. To keep people is like fulfilling their destiny in life. I do not want to raise killers and I do not want to join people that cut corners to raise killers on the roads but to train both professionals and private car owners how to drive safe.

It is also my target to ensure that all that we have been doing, we keep developing it till we are able to affect Nigeria at large in the area of improved driving culture and also gain recognition beyond the continent of Africa.

 

What are the challenges you have faced so far or facing presently in this business?

Within the past 10 years of running this business, I have discovered that the challenges I face in this business are one, getting qualified, trained and ready to work staffers, we have to propel them, and we have to tell them of the benefits before they come into the business. Not that alone, in area of people coming to learn, ready to abide to the rules and regulations of the training of becoming qualified drivers. Many are ready to cut corners; saying, can you do this for me within a short time? Then I say no, we have standard and we have to follow this standard. Also, in the area of support, we find it hard to get support in the areas of contributions, donation, partnership, loans and grants to get necessary equipment like vehicles and conducive classrooms and environment for learning.

 

What are your future plans on this job?

2019, by the grace of God has been a successful and productive year but we have not gotten there yet. There are plans and programmes already written in black and white, for me to achieve as the director of this great institution and I call it vision 2020. Expanding our pattern of operation beyond Ekiti state, to south western Nigeria, about safety consciousness on the road, raising and training drivers that will abide by the rules and regulation of driving, we have a lot for 2020.

 

You are planning to mark your 10th anniversary as a driving school and also launch a book, why and what do you want to achieve by doing this?

We started the driving school business in 2009, so it is to appreciate God for 10 years of training people without accident, crash or injury, God protecting us here and there, he has not allowed any matter that is beyond what we can handle befall us. Everything has been under control for the past 10 years. Also, to let the world know that there is an institution in Ekiti doing what Nigerian Government wants in preventing accidents on our roads as well as training qualified drivers. However, on the launching of book, I once said, anyone who drives a car from Abuja to Kaduna without necessary training is just a car mover, but any driver who is trained and understands the nitty-gritty of driving is a car driver. So, the book also is to educate the public on what driving entails, talking about the theoretical aspect of it.