Agege, commonly pronounced as aige by Lagos bus conductors, is a bustling town of street commerce. The residents don’t pretend to be a part of the mega city of the Island, yet the town’s history is as rich as that of any noble town in the Centre of Excellence and its fame is global.
For a town that has seen what could pass for three different stages of commercial revolution, from kola nut to railway, and now to bread, Agege bread is famous but what is not known to many who daily consume the delicious loaves is the not-so-palatable story that comes with getting the bread to homes by women who daily hawk it.
From Ageigi to Agege
Interestingly, Lagos conductors are closer to calling the town its original name, which was Ageigi.
History has it that when the kola nut plantations in the Agege area started to flourish, it attracted huge settlements. Agege experienced rapid development and became a powerful centre of the kola nut trade. These settlements attracted different people of different backgrounds and interests such as labourers and most of these were Hausa. Whenever the Yoruba needed labourers for jobs such as cutting of trees, they would engage the services of the Hausa people. Because of this engagement, the immediate area where the Hausa lived was named ‘Ilu Awon Ageigi’ which translates as a town of the tree cutters. The name “Agege” was thus formed out of the word “Ageigi.”
The bread revolution
Agege bread, it is said, started when the railway mode of transportation in Nigeria gradually deteriorated from the early 1990s and the volume of commerce in Agege began to nosedive with it. Also disappearing was the daily grind of train wheels at the railway crossing gate, just a stone’s throw from the popular Pen Cinema. As the activities of the Nigerian Railway Corporation officials at the railway crossing began to peter out, a new pattern of activity became noticeable around the axis.
On the shoulders of the road that traverses the railway tracks small-scale traders began to take positions to eke out a living. Among these traders, a particular group began to stand out. On both sides of the road, there were long lines of tables displaying panoplies of loaves – always looking fresh. And because the axis gradually grew into a commercial centre of sorts for mainly bread purchase, the “Agege bread” title gradually became a singsong.
Street corner to global stage
Initially, too, most of the bakeries that began churning out Agege bread were located around the Agege area. But any loaf now produced anywhere in Lagos State will pass for Agege bread, as somehow, the makers of the remarkable loaf have managed to uniform the taste regardless of where it is produced in Lagos.
The bread has become one of Nigeria’s food mainstays. The soft and sticky loaf has become more like a Lagos identity, as some meals are not just complete without it.
Agege used to be a major entry port for goods like groundnuts, leather, tomatoes and other vegetables, grains, and other goods from different parts of Nigeria.
The popular Yoruba saying, omo ku ile, iya kabo (meaning, welcome home mother) seemed to have been at the bedrock of the marketing strategy of the bread sellers who targeted travellers from different parts of Nigeria, bylining the railway tracks with freshly baked bread arranged on wooden tables. The Agege train axis gradually grew into a commercial centre of sorts for mainly the bread, hence the Agege bread title.
Hawkers took over
As the brand gained more popularity, many young girls, and even middle-aged women, took to hawking Agege bread, now not restricted to the Agege area alone, but virtually throughout the state, but still advertising their loaves as “Agege bread.” Initially, most of the bakeries that began churning out Agege bread were located around the Agege area. But any loaf now produced anywhere in Lagos State would pass for Agege bread.
Those who started the initiative in Agege seemed, however, to have set a standard to follow in flavour, as the Agege bread bought anywhere in Lagos would appear to have the same taste: moderate sugar and so much freshness.
The Agege bread business is a huge money-spinning venture that has spanned many generations, more so that Agege bakeries have sprung up in far away London.
Every day in Lagos you can readily find Agege bread in the stalls or people hawking them from street to street, the aluminium trays perching on their heads and the loaves of different shapes and sizes forming a pyramid.
The hawkers, mostly women, some with babies strapped to their backs, walk through the streets of Lagos selling their wares, their shouts of “fine butter bread” slicing through the busy Lagos morning air.
Like a well trained army, these women flood the streets of Lagos every morning, ensuring that everyone get their share of this Lagos delicacy. Just like the army, these women are recruited by bakery owners from different parts of Nigeria and even neighbouring countries like Benin Republic, Togo, and even Cameroun.
And just like Olajumoke Orisaguna, the bread-seller-turned-model who came to Lagos in search of greener pastures, these women have similar stories of hope, dreams and aspirations. But, sadly, most of the hopes they are given by bakery owners who recruit them to come to Lagos are false.
The story of Jumoke Orisaguna needs no retelling. She was a very apt definition of poverty and struggles. Then in the course of hawking Agege bread, she “gate-crashed” into a photo session and bade poverty goodbye. Her Cinderella story has turned the Agege bread hawking business around, regrettably in a negative way as bakers now exploit young girls and married women, all in the name of positioning them for Orisaguna’s kind of over-night fortune.
They are promised the Lagos life; good accommodation, good working conditions and the hope that someday, they too will also become their own masters, but oftentimes, these dreams never materialise.
Such is the story of Hafsat, a bread seller who agreed to speak with Saturday Tribune.
Hasat, a mother of two from Osun State, was brought to Lagos by a distant relative for the bread hawking business.
“I wasn’t really doing anything in the village though I learnt hair making. Business was not forthcoming and my husband is a daily labourer. My parents are aged but my mother makes iru (locust beans). My children, aged five and seven, dropped out of school because we could not pay. So, when my uncle told me about coming to Lagos, I was a bit sceptical but nonetheless excited. I had heard so much about Lagos and I prayed to God to help me make it in the city.
“I left my children in the care of my parents and came here. He brought me to a bakery here in Iyana Oworo. There I saw many other women like me. Some had been here for five years or even more. The accommodation was one room like that behind the bakery and seven of us shared the room. I won’t lie, the living condition is terrible. At night, the heat is always so unbearable that some of us opt to sleep in front of the bakery.
“In the morning, we would be given sixty loaves of bread or more, depending on our ability. To save cost, I would sometimes trek from Iyana Iworo to Gbagada to sell my wares. If I am lucky, I would be able to sell most of the bread. I would return the money to the manager and the gain of N15 or N10 on each bread would be mine. Sometimes I make a gain of N1,200 daily which I diligently save so that I can send to my family back home,” she said.
When Saturday Tribune inquired if the bread sellers were required to sign any documents, Hafsat became uneasy and said, “my uncle who brought me to Lagos is my guarantor. But I have heard that in other bakeries, they take oath to be faithful in their dealings with the bakery owners.
Hafsat, however, lamented about the sexual harassment she faces. “There is this manager in our bakery that even does not mind that I am married. He has been pressuring me for sex for a while now. He even refused to give me wares to sell on several occasions. He later relented after some of my co-workers begged him. “I am currently doing monthly contribution with some of my colleagues. When I get my share, I hope to go back to the village and start petty trading,” she disclosed.
Suffering and not smiling
Another bread seller who gave her name simply as Iseoluwa told Saturday Tribune that she came from Benin Republic. “The same man that brought my sister to Lagos also brought me here. I was working with a woman and her family in Lekki. They maltreated me and accused me of stealing so I ran away. I took up bread selling after a friend introduced me to it. I currently sleep at the bakery in Bariga. They remove some money from my earnings to pay for my accommodation, she said.
Iseoluwa said she was inspired by Olajumoke’s story. “God can find you anywhere. See Olajumoke now, she is a model and celebrity. I always pray that luck would smile on me, too, someday,” she added.
When Saturday Tribune, asked to take her picture, she declined, claiming that she was not well dressed. “I will dress well tomorrow. Right now I am not looking my best.”
A bakery owner in Ojota who gave his name as Mr Ayeleso, however, denied claims that bread hawkers were being sexually harassed.
“I have been in this business for over 15 years. Yes, we employ women for distribution but we don’t harass them in anyway. As you can see, our bakery is not big enough, so we don’t even allow people to sleep here except some of our workers who do overnight shifts. Before we give bread to people on credit, we make certain of their identity and location. We only give them bread based on referral. If you look at it objectively, we are empowering these women,” he said.
When Mr Ayeleso was asked what would happen to the hawkers should they mismanage the bread money, he replied that the hawker would be detained and her guarantor asked to pay. “This is what obtains in most organisations, so what we do here by asking for guarantors is not different. You can’t employ a sales person without knowing where they come from or even ensuring that they sign a kind of agreement,” he said.
Helpers or recruiters?
Also speaking with Saturday Tribune, Aishatu Owode, a mother of two lamented the troubles she goes through making a living from hawking bread.
“Today I decided not to carry my four-month-old baby because I need to meet my target. Whenever I carry my baby along, it slows me down because I won’t be able to trek long distances. I am always very concerned about her exposure to the sun. It is not an easy experience for me. I collect bread from a bakery in Bariga where I used to sleep, but I had to stop when I got pregnant. Now I stay with a friend of mine in Ketu because my daughter’s father is also squatting,” she said.
Asked if she was also brought to Lagos by someone, she replied in the affirmative. She said a friend of her father invited her to Lagos to help in his bakery. “The person that brought me to Lagos is late now. He promised to give me good accommodation but I was forced to sleep in the bakery with other women. For the first few weeks, I even had to pay back the money he used to bring me to Lagos. I left the bakery after I made some money. Now I am more or less my own boss. I am saving up money to rent my own apartment so that I can bring my other child from the village,” she said.
For Sadiat, the die is cast as there is no going back home.
“Olorun ti o ranti Olajumoke a se temi na,” she said in Yoruba language, meaning “God will remember me as He did Olajumoke.”
Narrating her coming to Lagos, Sadiat said, “It was my former husband that brought me to Lagos from Oyo. It was when we got to Lagos that I realised that he was married with children. I was like a house-help there. When I got fed up, I left. I got introduced to a bakery in Ketu where I started helping them to sell bread. The stress was so much and I lost a four-month pregnancy. Every day I walk these roads, I am hopeful that fortune would smile on me,” she said.
We will look into it –NAPTIP
Reacting to the allegations against the bakers, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) said though the issue appears like something meant for the Ministry of Labour and Productivity because those involved are adults, the agency would search its statutes to see if the accusations could come under its mandate.
The head of Public Relations, Mr Josiah Emerole, told Saturday Tribune that Lagos was notorious for child slavery and arrest had been made in the past.
“Importing women from other states and even neighbouring countries for sexual exploitation and slavery in bakeries is a new development. Our core mandate is to end slavery under whatever guise and slavery is very rampant in Lagos. We have been arresting those moving people illegally from other places to Lagos.
“There are two issues here now; forcing the women, including the married ones, to consent to sex before they can be given bread to sell and deceiving them to come to Lagos to face exploitation. Anyone from 18 years can work and since these women are adults, it is a labour issue, especially when it is about sexual exploitation. But we fight underage employment, which is very common in Lagos. At times, they won’t even pay them. But since this matter has been brought to our attention, I will get my office in Lagos notified and involved to see how this can come under our statutes,” Emerole said.
Culprits may face trial –Lagos agency
Speaking with Saturday Tribune, the coordinator of Lagos State Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Team, Mrs Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, pointed out that speaking from the state government’s point of view, violence against women and even children should not happen in the first place.
“Cases are usually reported to the appropriate authorities like NAPTIP. It should be noted that anyone caught committing crimes against women and children would be prosecuted. But as an organisation, we are going beyond just prosecuting people. We hope to work with organisations that would sensitise parents on the risk of sending their children to Lagos for greener pastures.
“Many of these women and children come from within and outside Nigeria as we have found out. These crimes should not even have happened in the first place if the parents are well sensitised. So, we are hoping to work with parents to ensure that their children are not taken advantage of,” she said.
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