That Nigeria has suffered a dearth of indigenous skilled craftsmen and artisans, especially in building and construction industry is obvious and widely reported. However, one area of skill that is on the verge of extinction is watch repair. PAUL OMOROGBE reports:
The history of watch repair is as old as watchmaking. In today’s world where smartphones can do almost everything including telling the time, some say wearing a wristwatch is not necessary. Globally, the watch repair business is on a decline with an aging workforce and Nigeria’s situation appears not be an exception.
Nigerian Tribune took a trip to the Central Business District, Dugbe, in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. There one will find a number of watch repairers. But, it appears that the watch repair business seems to be a job for the elderly.
Nigerian Tribune spent time talking to these men to know their perception about the business that appears to be at sunset.
At the junction that links Adekunle Fajuyi Road with Eleyele Road, where Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) sited its Dugbe office, Johnson Anwo has a seat and a bench for prospective clients. He is there Monday to Friday, and sometimes on Saturdays if he has no pastoral work.
He appeared to be a man of few words and getting an extensive interview from him was not easy. He declined to have his photograph taken, saying that it is God that gives publicity.
“I started this business in 1971. Those were the days of pounds, shillings and pence, not naira and kobo of today. I started here in Ibadan. I began at Agbowo opposite the University of Ibadan. I spent three years there before moving to Dugbe in 1974,” Pastor Anwo, as he is called in the area, said.
How he began…
“Due to poverty, I had no parents to train me, so I had to begin this business. I had free education up to primary six courtesy of Obafemi Awolowo’s free education policy. I was about to marry when I started this business. Today, I have children that I have trained up to university level. One of them is at the University of Ilorin now,” Anwo said further.
Speaking on the fortune of the business, he said: “The situation in Nigeria is constantly changing. One has to pray and stay close to God to stand as a man. However, things in the country have affected our customers.”
He said he has reasons to thank God despite the hurdles, and added: “Very soon I will leave this business.”
He acknowledged that the business has seen better days. In his opinion, the coming of smart watches and other digital watches hasn’t adversely affected the business.
He admitted that it was not proceeds from watch repair alone that he has used to send his children to school.
Asked what other source of income he had, he responded, saying, “God is providing. I don’t need to bother myself. That is the blessing of God.”
Should young people enter this business? Anwo responded, “It is good for young people to learn this work because if they don’t, when I and my mates are gone, the work will die also.”
He added, “I will advise young people to learn a handiwork. This is because there is no way that with it you won’t earn your daily bread.”
Saka’s story
Mr Bayo Saka was born in 1965. His spot is not far from Pastor Anwo’s.
Speaking to Nigerian Tribune about his watch repair business, he said, “Whatever amount I make even if it is just N2,000 a day, I will know how to manage it on transport fare and other daily expenses. For example, when I arrive in the morning and haven’t sold, I will go and eat. Whenever I make money, I can then go and pay for the food.”
Saka spoke about how the business began for him. “I started this business around 1989. I used to be into sales of electronics which I began around 1980. I sold extension plugs, door bells in traffic around Iyaganku (an area not far from Dugbe). Then I sold wristwatches and clocks before settling down with this work.
“Back then, it was fair. For example, if I made N100 in a day, I would spend just N20. That was sufficient for me to have lunch with and take home.
“I have got married and trained my children from this business. I just have to manage what comes in very well. I am building my house but we are yet to complete it.”
In his opinion, the coming of digital wristwatches in a tech era has not affected the profitability of the watch repair business.
According to him, “There are people whose wearing a watch is part of their daily habit. They still buy wristwatches.”
He said he had stayed with this business all this while because he had found no means to do other businesses. “If I had sufficient funding, I would gladly change to another business.”
‘Not for the young’
Looking at the fact that all who are into the watch repair business were elderly, he said that young people were not interested in watch repair because the profit from the business was low. “There is no huge profit from doing this work and that is why our youth are not interested in it. For us, whatever comes in be it N200, N500 or N1,000, we just make do with it.”
“Once my generation is gone, there will be almost nobody to replace us. Our young people can’t do this,” he said.
Saka noted further: “Although our government has initiated skill acquisition programmes, none of these programmes have focused on watch repair. But our youth aren’t ready to learn it, and there is nothing government can do about that.”
He added: “My advice for the youth is for them to focus on whatever legitimate business or skill they are interested in.”
Another watch repairer’s story
Mr Solomon Areo began dealing in watches in 1979. The grandfather, however, said that this was not his first business interest. “I learnt shoe repair. After a while, I started a business of selling cassettes and watches. I then focused on watch repair.”
He added: “I have educated my children from this business, although at a point, I did some buying and selling of goods. I sold here in Dugbe. Then, the IBWA Bank building (present-day Polaris Bank building) was not there. That was where I was located.
“But I stopped. That was during the Buhari regime following the overthrow of the Shagari administration. During the Buhari-Idiagbon regime, they told us they did not want to see anyone selling by the roadside then.
“They drove us away from there. In the process, my goods were destroyed. That was how I left the business amid the crisis that period.”
He said that when the situation was calmer, he decided to return to the watch repair business.
Going down memory lane, Areo recalled: “Back then, the country was better. I had a friend in Customs who invited me on a trip to London. I asked him, ‘what do I want to go and do there?’ This was because the naira was as strong as their currency. Now people are travelling out of the country because the naira has fallen badly. So, this business was better at that time because the economy was better.”
He shared his opinion about how technology has affected the business. “This is a work that moves with the times. Before, there were mostly mechanical wristwatches. But over time, digital watches came on the scene. As they arrived, we too began to adjust.
“Now that smartphones have arrived, some people are okay with checking the time on their phones. But for some, a watch is part of their dressing. After wearing clothes, they don’t feel they are completely dressed without a watch!
“Now that most watches are digital, they still need batteries and we are here to change them.”
Asked whether he still found it the business profitable, he said: “We are elderly, with experience we know how to manage ourselves. But young people of nowadays don’t know how to spend small money. These are not the times naira had value like it used to. This country used to be great.”
He said that the only hope for small businesses like his and the youth of the country was for the economy to improve. “I pray that God touches the hearts of our leaders so that they can replicate what they see when they travel abroad,” he said.
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