Kwara State government, in partnership with a private company, Drupp Logistics Support Systems, has inaugurated the first e-hailing cab platform and business in the state.

Speaking during the inauguration of the e-hailing cab business called Drupp in Ilorin on Friday, the managing director of Drupp Harmony Limited, Oluwole Aguda, said that the scheme was poised to provide jobs and socioeconomic opportunities for residents of the state, especially youth.

The managing director, who said that the business was not only created for commercial purposes, added that it hoped to deliver social value to people in a safe, secured and affordable way.

“At this point in global history where economies are under daily threats of survival, it behooves responsible organizations and governments to expand their outlook to socially beneficial predispositions.

“We have employed Kwarans and engaged Kwarans for business. We have launched a platform where persons, groups, and families can achieve conveyance from one point to another point in Ilorin and in every part of Kwara state safely and affordably.

“We have started deploying, a safe, secure, and affordable service that has been extensively crafted with business sustainability in mind.

“The process of our emergence has been hewn from careful and deliberate thought, intelligent planning, collaborative development, and assiduous dedication to the objectives of Drupp in Kwara,” he said.

The managing director, who commended the existing relationship between the company and the Professional E-hailing Drivers and Private Owners Association of Nigeria (PEDPAN), said that the association had proven that meaningful, respectful, and well-defined partnerships could exist between cab-hailing platforms and the engine rooms of these platforms – driving partners.

“Drupp is a people-driven business initiative and so we have purposed to provide favorable and fair working conditions for all partners. While we remain perpetually in client service, we moderate that ambition by ensuring that our policies actively capture the interests of our driving partners.

“We have enjoyed extensively, the support of the Kwara State Government is approaching this milestone, the progressive environment and enable conditions of support make this evolving story a great one to tell”, he said.

Also speaking, Mr. Femi Oyetunji, the Company Secretary of Harmony Holdings Limited, the umbrella business outfit of the Kwara state government, said that the scheme guaranteed security and competitiveness in the area of affordable pricing.

He said that the idea behind the creation of Drupp was part and parcel of the Kwara State government's plan to provide jobs and add value to people in the state, adding that the government was determined to make the business work.