Passengers tell my boss to fire me because I'm Nigerian - Bus conductor living in Ghana

Nigerian bus conductor, Isiah Danjuma who moved from Kaduna State in Nigeria to work in Ghana has shared his experience in the West African country.

According to him, he was always rejected by potential employers whenever he mentioned that he was Nigerian, until luck shone on him, where he was employed by his current boss, Master Ago.

"The man, very old man, say fifty-something; fifty-five years of fifty-six years, his name is Master Ago. He was here this morning but by now, I think he has gone on a trip. So he called me that afternoon. He asked where I was coming from. I told him I am Nigerian, and I explained everything to him. He asked if I can do this work (trotro) and I said 'yes' as long as I will learn a living, for now, I can do it. He said I should work with him, he has no mate (bus conductor). That day, I started working with him. Some people rejected me then because I told them I’m Nigerian."

He added that while on the job as a bus conductor (tro-tro mate), he was having difficulty communicating with passengers because he was not familiar with the local Ghanaian language, Twi.

This infuriated some of the passengers as they demanded that he was replaced by a Ghanaian bus conductor.

"The major challenge here is Twi, their common language, I don’t know how to speak it. Now, I know some little things but then, the passengers will talk to me and I have no business with whatever they are saying. Apart from taking money from them and giving them change. Some of the passengers even get angry. They ask who I am, then the bus driver would tell them I’m Nigerian.

"The passengers then ask the driver why he is working with a Nigerian who cannot cope with the work because of the language barrier. I know the Ghanaian currency very well; I only take 2ghc for a trip from her to Tema community 4, 7, 8 and 9. Now, I have improved."