An indigenous Nigerian company, E. F Network Limited, a member of E.F Group, has launched a revolutionary ride-sharing application called Gabtaxi, with the best local content and lowest commission for drivers.
The launch of Gab taxi (GAB) took place in Abuja on Monday and it is expected to compete against and overtake foreign e-hailing companies that had dominated the Nigerian market.
Mr Gideon Egbuchulam, Chairman and CEO of EFGroup, said at a press briefing that the motivation behind Gab taxi initiative was the protest he witnessed by Nigerian drivers complaining of poor treatment by foreign e-hailing companies.
He said these drivers decried that foreign hailing companies collected more than the Nigerian drivers, giving them nothing and without even ensuring that the drivers or their cars were safe.
“Most of the drivers are graduates with no other jobs and these foreign taxi companies collect from 25 to 30 per cent commission for each ride.
“We even doubt if they are paying taxes in Nigeria or pay what they ought to pay because in areas you find them, they use fuel stations as offices,’’ he said.
Egbuchulam also bemoaned the ordeal Nigerian drivers through in the hands of foreign companies, adding, ”in various cases, many drivers hardly went home with 30 per cent a day after deductions.”
He said as a result of this, they resolved to create value by developing a top notch product that would reduce Nigerian drivers’ losses and compete with any technology anywhere in the world.
Egbuchulam said: ”With Gab, drivers will get the same things they were receiving and more, at barely half of the commissions being charged by the competition.
“ We have the lowest commission in the industry anywhere in the world, just about 15 per cent on average.
“Not only reduction in commissions, we offer to them many more incentives, in fact we applaud the Federal Government for granting the e-hailing drivers the union licence so that they can negotiate their future.’’
Europeans,’’ Egbuchulam said.
He added that E.F Network Ltd, operating since 1995, had been putting different technological products in the market ranging from e-commerce, internet, lost phone locator and car trackers electronics among others.
Egbuchulam said that building a taxi application of world class standard was not that easy, adding that his app would be entering other countries in subsequent months.
“This would earn Nigeria government foreign exchange that is now very scarce to get in Nigeria and our agenda for 2024 is to enter America, Europe and Asia.
He said: “So, we are very pleased to introduce this product to the Nigerian market. We are already in google play store and apple store, you can download the app, test it and see how it works.” (www.gabtaxi.com)
(NAN)