Drivers demand health insurance from ride-hailing firms after LagRide driver’s death

Ride-hailing drivers in Nigeria will demand health insurance packages from e-hailing companies operating in Nigeria after Adebayo Padmore, a driver for LagRide, passed away yesterday. Of the major ride-hailing companies in Nigeria, only Bolt offers health insurance to drivers, contingent on them meeting certain targets. LagRide and Uber do not offer those benefits, three drivers told TechCabal.

“Our focus is to make sure all the ride-hailing companies put our members on Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO) plans,” Ibrahim Ayoade, the general secretary of the App-Based Transporters of Nigeria (AUATON), told TechCabal on a phone call today.

The drivers are pushing for health insurance benefits that are not tied to performance.

“We have been providing health insurance for three years,” said Femi Adeyemo, Bolt’s Local Communication manager, in a text message.

But drivers disagreed, stating the feature only applied as an incentive. “Bolt has one they use as an incentive when you overwork yourself to make about 300 trips. Many people have accidents trying to win the healthcare bonus,” national treasurer for the Union, Jolaiya Moses, said on a separate call.

Another driver who did not wish to be named said LagRide asked drivers to pay for their health insurance. Although Uber’s head of communications for East and West Africa, Lorraine Onduru, did not respond to TechCabal’s questions at the time of this report, this article says Uber only provides injury protection for drivers on active trips, as the mobility firm sees drivers as independent contractors, not employees.

TechCabal earlier reported that Padmore died Monday morning as he prepared his routine of picking up passengers. A medical report obtained from Louis Med Hospital in Lekki showed he was pronounced dead at 5:45 am. His corpse was taken to Ibadan in his LagRide vehicle—which he was still financing, some drivers told TechCabal.

Ayoade had previously condemned the LagRide’s financing model last month. He claimed the model encouraged driver partners to demand unrealistic returns from drivers. “Lack of money makes some of our members sleep in their cars on the highways. The asset financing model of some app firms does not enable drivers to save any money for themselves,” he added.

Many drivers operating the e-hailing sector are like Padmore, who have made their cars home. Some of them sleep on highways to meet targets set by ride-hailing companies or personal targets they made for themselves.

Padmore’s death has come with an awakening among drivers who have now united to press home health insurance demands. “We are trying to evaluate everything that happened, but further actions will be taken when we bury our colleague this weekend,” Ayoade said.