By Providence Ayanfeoluwa & Matthew Johnson

Lagride has deployed a set of brand new vehicles under its Drive To Own, DTO programme, a milestone in its plan to expand structured pathways from professional driving to long-term vehicle ownership for captains.

DTO is a performance-led initiative designed to reward captains who consistently meet measurable standards, including service quality, safety, compliance, ride completion, customer feedback, and overall operational discipline on the platform.

The programme is backed by a $100million facility from United Bank for Africa (UBA), supporting Lagride’s plan to scale responsibly with strong governance and clear accountability, with a target of deploying 3,500 vehicles as the programme expands.

The $100m partnership with UBA was launched in December by Chief Diana Chen, Chairman of Lagride, and Oliver Alawuba, Group Managing Director/ Chief Executive of UBA, and the programme is already delivering tangible outcomes as the rollout progresses.

Speaking at the launch of DTO programme in Lagos, Mildred Ekanem, Executive Director, Lagride, said the deployment reflects Lagride’s commitment to building sustainable livelihoods while improving service standards for customers across Lagos.

Ekanem“Drive To Own is built on structure and measurable performance. This deployment is proof that when captains commit to a standard, the platform will commit to them in return. With UBA as a key partner and a strong financial backbone behind the programme, we are building a credible ownership engine that strengthens service quality and expands opportunity for captains over time. Our ambition is clear: scale responsibly and reach a deployment target of 3,500 vehicles as the programme grows.”

She said that the programme’s approach is driven by verifiable performance records generated through Lagride’s rental framework, which provides consistency and accountability for both the platform and its financial partners.

She said: “Access to finance at this scale requires trust and data, the rental period created a disciplined operating framework that produced the performance history needed for this model to be supported with confidence.”