By Christian Agadibe
The Lagos State Government in its
anti-child labour law warns kid-labourers to stay off the streets. But for
15-year-old Mustapha Abubakar, who came to Lagos from his native Katsina State
last year, that law does not exist because he can neither speak nor write
English language. Even the common man’s ‘pidgin English’ remained a hard try
for him. Young Abubakar, one of the teeming scavengers in Governor Babatunde
Raji Fashola’s Lagos State, was sent by his jobless parents to come and make
money for them.
Playing the breadwinner
At a age most of his mates are in
school, Abubakar, who came to Lagos with the help of his father’s friend called
“Officer”, is playing his family’s breadwinner. He would have loved to be
educated, but his poor father could not afford to send him to school. The young
boy told Sunday Sun that the daily search for discarded iron and other
commercial wastes at refuse dumps had not yielded the expected gains that will enable
him support his family despite toiling from dawn to dusk. In an interview with
our reporter at the Osolo dump site in Isolo, Lagos, he narrated how he had to
struggle for virtually everything in life at a tender age. “There is no money
now. My parents have no money to sponsor my education. My father married one
wife and had four children. It is only one person that is going to school in
our family.
Life as a
scavenger
He said: “My father did not go to
school and he does the same work that I do. But he does his own in Kastina
State. He gathers irons and sells them to Arewa people. He usually buys many
and loads them on trucks and distributes to the buyers. He could not send all
of us to school because the money he makes is too small.”
Abubakar told Sunday Sun that on
good days, he makes up to N500 profi,t part of which he saves through his
guardian. Part of the savings is occasionally remitted to his parents. He was
quick to add that business fortunes do change for good or bad.
He said: “In a day after going
around Lagos, I could smile home with N1,500 and may be, at the end of the day,
feed with N500 and then give my oga the remaining one to save for me. Every
day, I give him N500 but if business is bad, I cannot give him because I have
to eat.”
No love for
the job
If you thought that the young boy
loved his trade, you were wrong. “I don’t like the work, but I have no other
choice. Sometimes the government would send policemen after us and when they
catch you, they put you in the cell and you would pay N25,000 to bail yourself
and the money you have made would just go like that. There are also the council
people from the Lagos State government,” he said. For the young scavenger, who
at a point told this reporter that, “oga, you speak as if you don’t know Lagos,”
the state authorities have been unfair to people like him who are struggling to
survive.
Abubakar said: “I don’t know why
they are after us. They have arrested me before and my guardian paid for my
bail. I did nothing wrong to warrant my arrest. My oga used part of my money to
bring me out from the cell.”
Looking back, Abubakar recalled
that his trip to Lagos was at the instance of his guardian who assured him that
he would make good money. He said: “It is my oga that brought me to Lagos. He
said that I would make money here if I came to Lagos and look for used irons to
sell.”
In praise
of employer
The lad, who trusts his master so
much, described him as a man of integrity who would not swindle him of his
little savings.
He said: “I don’t believe my oga
can dupe me or seize my money because he is a rich man. It is not only me that
he harbours under his care. Each morning, he would give us N1,500 each to get
these irons and at the end of the day, we give him N2,000 and he would take his
N1,500 and give us N500 each, which is our gain for the day. Sometimes if it
was N3,000, he would take N2,000 and give me N1,000. From that amount, I would
save N500.”
No time
for frivolities
The scavenger, whose job entails
picking and buying fairly used items across the city, explained that he does
not engage in frivolities that could endanger his job and purse.
Abubakar said: “I don’t smoke
because it is a waste of money, but I have friends that smoke and I don’t take
beer. I don’t patronise prostitutes because they would finish all the money you
have saved. That means you would not buy good things for your parents. That is
why I don’t go there. Sometimes, the area boys would attack us and demand for
money and if you don’t, they would beat you up.”
Encounter
with women
Talking about his encounter with
women, young Abubakar recounted his narrow escape from sexual abuse by a
Togolese lady, who hawked food on his street in Katsina, and had the habit of
seducing teenagers.
He said: “I was almost raped by a
Togolese woman. She was older than me and she said that she liked me. One day,
she asked me to come and shag her, but I told her that I would not, because it
was bad. She promised me money if I would have sex with her but I bluntly
refused.
“She had passed through our
street and I called her to sell food to me. I bought food from her and when I
gave her N50, she stayed and made passes at me. Then, I asked what her mission
was and I told her to go, but she refused. Just then she touched me and robbed
her body on mine. She begged me to have sex with her, but I ordered her out of
our compound and she reluctantly stepped out.
Love for
western education
Abubabar regretted his inability
to go to school despite his love for western education.
He told Sunday Sun: “Honestly, I
like to go to school but I don’t have money to fund my education. There is
school in my place, but you need money to be admitted. One needs about N10,000
to secure admission into that school. If I spoke English very well, I would
have told you all that made me stop schooling but basically, the major
constraint was money.
“We are four children in my
family but only one person is in school. Our father could not afford to send
all of us to school. I am the family’s breadwinner and if I failed to send
money, they would starve.
“I swear by Almighty God, if I
had the opportunity to go to school and work after graduation, my family would
no longer suffer. But if I could not get educated, I would continue with this
job even though it is tough. If you were arrested, you would spend the money
you saved on police bail. Sometimes they would accuse us of stealing from
people’s compound all in the bid to extort money from us.
“I don’t engage myself in such
evils because if I came here and stole, it automatically meant that I would not
go back there again.”
I can’t
join Boko Haram
Asked whether he would join the
dreaded sect, Boko Haram, if offered huge money to cater for his family,
Abubabar said that he preferred his life to evil money.
He said: “I don’t know about Boko
Haram and I would never involve myself in it. Though I am a Muslim and we
preach peace and love, nobody has introduced me to the sect and I would never
be a part of it. I would not go because it is suicidal and I don’t want to die.
“Even if you give me N50 million
now, I swear, I will never do such a thing. I love my parents but I would not
sacrifice my life for them. For instance, if you carry the bomb, you will
likely die and you will kill innocent people. It is not good at all and I
cannot do it because I am not ready to die. Those who offer to be used to
commit such evil have no sense at all.
“If the economy were stable, no
hunger and education were free, people would not be do such things. Some of
them got involved because their father could not cater for them and due to
hunger, they joined to be able to fend for their families and they die in the
process. But I cannot do such harm to my fellowman.”
Resolve to end illiteracy
Abubabar, who lives in a
makeshift house popularly known as Batcha at the dump site, told Sunday Sun
that if he came across any sponsor, he would devote his time and energy to
western education.
He said: “My father would allow
me to go to school if there was someone to help because he liked education but
he had no money to send me to school. If he had money, he would have put me in
school.
“If I make enough money or become
rich tomorrow, I will ensure that everybody in my house goes to school. I am in
Lagos today because in my state, you will not see this kind of job easily.”
Apparently counting the valuable
time the interview had taken from his business, Abubakar suddenly begged to be
excused and walked away.
“Let me go and make money. I will
see you next time,” he said courteously and resumed his business.
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