NIGERIAN Female Bikers Club, otherwise known as Amazon Motorcycle Club is planning a tour of five African countries by road to celebrate the 2016 International Women’s Day. The five countries tour which kicks off on March 4, 2016 from Lagos will see the female bikers travel from Nigeria through Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana and Ivory Coast to attend the International Women’s Day in Ivory Coast on the 8 of March, 2016.
Some members of the club who spoke with Vanguard Motoring in Lagos including Joan Otaru, an Electronics Engineer and Businesswoman, Matilda Otulana, a lawyer and Utibe-Abasi Nkango a professional interpreter said that the journey from Lagos to Ivory Coast would take them four days as they would stopover in all the five countries to empower some women. According to them, the plan to give out seedlings and helmets to female farmers to boost their farming and improve their safety.
Their itinerary would including leaving Lagos on the 4th of March to Lome and travel to Ghana on the 5th and Ivory Coast coast on the 7th. They are billed to return to Nigeria on the 14th. “We plan to empower female farmers by given them seedlings to help boost their farming. We will also preach safety awareness and denate helmets to female bikers in Ivory Coast because we know that there are a lot of female bikers in the country. Also, we are aware that motorbike is one of the means of transportation in the country. On the danger of embarking on the journey by road with powerbikes, the Amazon Motorcycle Club members said that they have taken insurance covers and will be accompanied by male riders and other riders from the countries they will be visiting. Speaking about the club, the members said that though they have been riding power bikes for many years, they decided to come together late last year to form Amazon Motorcycle Club with the intention of empowering African women. “In Africa, women are believed to belong to the kitchen, a lot of woman don’t know that they can be housewives and still be what they want to be.
We want to encourage women to pursue what they like, bearing in mind that when, they are free they can achieve their set goals. According to them, most of their members are married with children. “We have various professionals as members, including, lawyers, engineers, pilot, business women etc. and the passion is riding powerbikes and given back to the society as we do a lot of charity works,” they said. On what qualifies one to be a member of the Amazon Motorcycle Club, they said she must be a rider, responsible with visible source of livelihood. A prospective member will be on probation for six months before becoming a full member. They disclose that apart from given to woman, they want to use the tour to tell the public that bikers are very respectable members of the society. For instance, it is forbidden for a member of Amazon Motorcycle Club to drink alcohol while riding as any one caught will be sanctioned.
