Meet Tokunbo Adegoju: The Lagos Mechanic Diagnosing Cars Over the Radio

Tokunbo Adegoju is a senior automotive technician at Auto Medics in Lagos,a workshop that also runs a training academy for mechanics. She also trains younger mechanics and helps motorists with vehicle problems on radio.

From fixing things at home to fixing cars

Growing up, Adegoju expected to become a doctor. Her grandfather had already imagined that future for her and encouraged it with a stethoscope and a blood-pressure monitor.

Whenever the family generator stopped working or something needed repairing, her father would call her to work alongside her brothers. She liked figuring out how things worked.

At boarding school, she repaired wall sockets, switches, lamp holders and light bulbs. Her mother worried when she worked around electrical wires, especially when sparks appeared. Her father encouraged her to keep going.

Cars came later, through helping her father and younger brother change flat tyres.

Medicine remained the plan until a road accident during a pre-degree programme changed her mind. Seeing blood made her realise that treating people might not be the right career for her.

She later described automotive work as another way of diagnosing and solving problems.

Adegoju later studied Agricultural Engineering at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), where she earned a Bachelor of Technology degree.

Her husband later encouraged her to consider automotive training after hearing a mechanic speak on radio. He believed she could do well in the field and urged her to seek formal training.

That took her to Auto Medics.

Learning the trade

At Auto Medics, Adegoju worked with heavy tyres, lifted vehicles and learned to use hydraulic jacks after years of working with screw jacks. Some technicians questioned whether she could handle the physical demands of the job. She also learned to trace faults from their symptoms and carry out repairs on different vehicles.

Engineer Kunle Shonaike, the founder of Auto Medics, has said cultural attitudes have contributed to the low number of women in automotive work, though he believes that is changing.

Diagnosing a car from a caller's description

A motorist may not know the faulty part. They may describe a noise, an unusual smell, a warning light or a change in how the car behaves.

She asks when the problem started, when the sound occurs and what changes when the driver accelerates or lets the engine idle. Smells, vibrations and warning lights can add more clues.

The answers help her narrow down the possible fault, although the vehicle still has to be inspected when the symptoms are not enough to confirm it.

Lagos Traffic Radio,the first highway advisory radio station of its kind in Nigeria, lists Auto-Medics as a weekday programme focused on automobile education and vehicle maintenance.

Johnny Onyeka Justin, one of the mechanics she has trained, remembers calling her after his vehicle broke down and he noticed an unusual smell from the engine. Before the car reached the workshop, Adegoju had narrowed down the likely problem.

Justin calls her “Workshop Mom.” He says she was initially intimidating, but later understood that she was demanding because she wanted her trainees to take the work seriously.

Senior technician Ibrahim Ogundele says women who had never imagined another woman doing automotive repair can change their view after watching Adegoju work.

The mechanic her trainees know

Justin considered leaving the profession at one point, but Adegoju encouraged him to stay. He later became confident in diagnosing and repairing vehicles himself.

Her grandfather had pictured her with a stethoscope. Years later, Adegoju is still diagnosing problems, only in cars rather than people.