Traveling by bus provides a significant avenue for engaging in discussions about national matters. It’s an informal setting where individuals from diverse backgrounds, academic environments, religious and cultural affiliations talk about matters of national importance.

This environment holds a high potential for the exchange of ideas, viewpoints, and personal experiences. This forum of interaction plays a crucial role in fostering awareness and disseminating knowledge that is pivotal for making well-informed decisions by citizens.

The issues that can be discussed are wide and vast, ranging from political subjects such as upcoming elections to economic and social issues like poverty and education within the country, leading to a greater understanding of the issues affecting the nation as a whole.

In September 2022, while on a bus going to work in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria, fellow passengers engaged in a discussion about the upcoming election. The focus of their conversation was the two frontline presidential candidates for the 2023 elections, Bola Tinubu of APC and Peter Obi of Labour Party.

Through a comprehensive analysis of the candidates’ past accomplishments, the passengers weighed their suitability for leading the nation. This analysis emerged in favour of Peter Obi, with him receiving more commendation than Tinubu. This dialogue prompted me to make my own personal research on the two candidates.

The insight gained from this single conversation helped me to make an informed decision about which of them to vote for in the election. After hearing certain things about the presidential candidate of the APC, I became so angry and yearned for a transformative change.

I found out that the political apathy I had towards the upcoming election disappeared instantly, the joy of being part of the upcoming transformative change filled me up. This is to show that most of the time, the outcome of these discussions in public transport vehicles affect the society positively.

In June 2023, I had another noteworthy experience. I took a cab to return to my hostel in Edo State University, Uzariue. While I was in the cab with other passengers who were also students of the institution, a fellow student of ours walked down from the gate to where the cabs were parked, and began expressing her frustration loudly to the driver.

Her complaints were that the cab drivers parked their vehicles a distance away from the main gate lamenting that despite the high fares they were paying due to the recent rise in fuel prices they still had to trek long distance from the gate to were the cabs were parked

The driver angrily responded by explaining that the fuel price had escalated even further to N650 per liter. He showed his receipt to prove that he had just spent N50,000 on fuel, which hadn’t even filled up his fuel tank completely.

The conversation then took a broader turn, with the other passengers joining in to discuss how the economic situation had deteriorated under Bola Tinubu’s regime.

Judith Ichado, a student of Mass Communication at the Edo State University, Uzariue, Edo State, wrote in this piece.