How crises forced us out of Plateau State

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Following the footsteps of his fathers,a man who simply identified as Ibrahim said he moved to Ibadan, Oyo State to continue his business after he left Plateau State after one of the crisis.

He told Saturday Tribune that his “parents have been coming to Ibadan for a very long time” to engage in different tradeswhile they were still young and were in school.

He added that he would have loved to return to Plateau State to continue his beans trade but the current crisis made him choose Ibadan to sell zobo and other spices.

“Our parents have been coming to Ibadan for a very long time. If you go to Sabo here you would meet a lot of people from the north. Right from the time of Murtala, they came for businesses; some were selling carrots, some were nail cutters while some were into shoe repairs.

“We were still young and were still in school, some in conventional schoolswhile some in Arabic schools.I started going to the conventional school but I stopped after two years and enrolled in an Islamia.

“After school we started business, we were taking beans from Kano to Jos, that time Jigawa State was not carved out from Kano yet. I’ve sold beans in Mangu, B/ladi and Amper, all in Plateau State,” he said.

He added that some of his brothers moved to Akwanga, in Nasarawa State after they left home the second time.

“But during Obasanjo’s time as president, we moved back home to continue the business because it wasn’t moving like it used to and also because of the crisis in Plateau State. After some time, we thought it was time we went out again.

“If not because of the crisis, we would have still remained in Plateau State or gone back there after we decided to leave home again. Though few of our brothers are still there,some went to Akwanga and some of us moved to the South-west; then I started bringing zobo to sell and the market moved well but now we just thank God, we are just doing it” he told Saturday Tribune.

He said it was easy for them to do business in the South West instead of begging because business has been part of them right from childhood.

“Why would I beg? Begging is not my thing. Begging is by choice, but why can’t they look for something else to do? If not because of the situation of things at home we wouldn’t even come here to do business, we’d do our business at home.but business is different here.

“Instead of begging, people can find other means to fend for themselves, even if its sachet (pure) water that they choose to sell, they can feed through that. But they have turned it into a money making venture. You’d see a strong and agile person begging when he can stay at home and farm, break firewood or other businesses at home.

“Our old parents have gone back home now, they don’t go anywhere any more. We are the ones that come out here to look for means to take care of them and send to them,” he said.

When asked if he wished to relocate out of the country in the japa wave he said, “If I see anyone that can take me I will go if not, I will do my business at here and when my time comes because of age, I’ll return home and stay there. We are always to God to give us our own businesses that would grow big. We are used to business already.”

He lamented the high cost of goods.However, he hoped that things would get better in the coming year.

“Everything is expensive, though we get what we want that are sent to us from the north, it is now very expensive. We used to buy a bag of ginger for N10,000 but it is now N40,000 and if you’re not a registered member of the business association here, you cannot sell. Like me, I take my goods from a dealer and remit a certain amount.

“I left my family back in the north, I send feeding money every now and then and then I go to see them after a month or 40 days. I am hoping that things would get better this New Year,” he said.

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