Inside the Lagride Academy, where drivers become captains 2 weeks and ₦50,000 later

In 2024, when CIG Motors took over the operations of Lagride from its former handlers, Zeno Links, they quickly discovered that most of the drivers were doing just that: driving. They didn’t care much about professionalism, the business of owning and operating a car, customer relations and all of that.

To build a professional service that befits a city like Lagos and justify its quite pricier service, the company decided it needed to train its drivers and help them become something more than just transporters.

CIG launched the Lagride Drivers Academy in 2025 to help turn drivers into captains. Here, they are trained on a number of skills, including safety and responsible driving, customer service and rider experience, platform display, professional conduct, financial responsibility, vehicle care and maintenance, brand representation, public trust, and most importantly, personal development

Speaking about how important the Lagride Drivers Academy is to Lagride operations, Executive Director Mildred Ekanem, who also serves as the academy’s Dean and Coordinator, noted that the academy is central to the quality and discipline expected from every captain on the platform.

She pointed out that at the Lagride Drivers Academy, drivers are elevated from just hands behind a wheel to embodiments of values.

“This matters because a Lagride captain carries more than just passengers. A Lagride captain carries the reputation of the platform, compliments of the riders and the promise of a better mobility experience in Lagos,” she said.

How the Lagride Drivers Academy works

Onboarding of drivers into the Lagride Drivers Academy takes place on the 10th, 20th, and 30th of every month. Successful drivers will be required to submit their licences and other documents and also pay a mandatory ₦50,000 training fee.

While there have been complaints about why the company is asking prospective drivers to pay for training, the company said the training is a personal development one whose benefits are not limited to the platform. It described this fee as a structured professional training investment that covers essential learning and onboarding components required for safe and professional operations.

The fee also covers driver background checks, certification processing, and the provision of uniforms, all of which are necessary to maintain safety, professionalism, and standardisation across the platform. After fulfilling every requirement, the prospective captains are accepted into the institution, where they will undergo a rigorous schedule over two weeks.

The Lagride Drivers Academy is properly resourced and fully staffed with tutors and experts who deliver structured, practical training on service excellence, peak-period optimisation, platform technology, income maximisation, and professional conduct.

Captains are also trained on operational defensive driving and safety protocols, customer service standards, technology and platform usage, and vehicle handling and maintenance awareness.

Upon completion of the two-week course at the academy, each Captain will be awarded a certificate that proves they are professional drivers. This certificate belongs to them, whether they end up driving on the platform or not. The company told Technext that its long-term goal is to make the Lagride Drivers Academy certification a hallmark of professional excellence that the wider industry recognises and trusts.

Speaking on the importance and how much credence the platform accords its certification, Dean and Coordinator, Mildred Ekanem, described it as the only passport to driving on the Lagride platform.

“It is the number one passport; if you do not qualify in my academy, you cannot move to the next step. It is very important to us, and it is one place that we intend to strengthen, especially from the third and fourth quarter of the year,” she said.

Lagride managers and drivers

Essentially, the company believes that its Academy is one of the foundational reasons Lagride has become the preferred e-taxi platform in Lagos and is increasingly recognised across Nigeria. It not only turns drivers into captains, but it also serves as a rite of passage into the first stage of Lagride’s driving scheme, which is the rental stage. Here, the drivers will be required to provide guarantors and pay a weekly upfront rental fee of ₦450,000.

See also: “Our drivers get enough work to earn ₦1 million monthly”, Lagride says