Twenty-nine-year-old Nasiru Aliyu hails from a village in Sokoto State. To him, the only evidence that there are still governments in the country is the cruel economic policies churned out to strangle and suffocate the common man.
“I have nothing to do with the government. There is nothing they can do for me. If they were serious about helping petty traders like me, they would have set up veritable, tangible avenues to do so, but in this country, it is ‘fight for yourself’ and and as you can see, I’m fighting for myself,” he declared emphatically, pointing to his wares and tools as his only hope of survival.
He denounced the greed and avarice of Nigerian leaders whom, he said, derived joy and happiness in seeing the masses wallow in squalor while they ride on the wings of corruption, confiscating the common patrimony of the entire populace.
“The only thing they (governments) know how to do is to make cruel policies that will leave the poor gasping for breath. I believe that no matter how choking these policies are, the poor will not die. We, the poor masses will live,” Nasiru assured, nodding his head in defiance.
He’d have nothing to do with Nigeria as a country, neither. For him, the country is tottering near the precipice and should not be taken seriously let alone hoping for a better day. It’s a case of every man to himself, God for all.
“I have no business with this country, whatever the leaders feel like doing, they should do, but I know that no matter how bad it is, the poor will still survive,” he reiterated.
Having left Sokoto for Akwa Ibom State seven years ago, Aliyu told our correspondent how he was forced to start fending for himself and his family at a very tender age – a situation that denied him of education beyond the basic level. Conversing in mixed pidgin, he said he had to delve into shoe-mending craft and jewelry business as his means of survival. He’s not an itinerant shoe-mender, but stationed under a shade by the roadside.
Hear him: “My parents are still alive and I have four siblings. I sell jewelry and I repair shoes. My first trade was shoemaking, but I had to look for something to add to it so that no matter how it was, I would be getting money from both sides. I left Sokoto for Akwa Ibom to hustle.
“However, this was not the business I was doing in Sokoto before I came here. I am a farmer. I have a farm in my home state which I go to check on every December.
“I have people taking care of it for me. But terrorists are giving us serious headaches. They often confiscate our harvest and subject us to paying tax if we must continue to farm.
“Amid all these, we farmers still manage to keep up with our farming even though it has not been easy.
“I started shoe-mending and jewelry business seven years ago when I left Sokoto.”
Aliyu is tall, dark and good-looking with a great sense of humour. He is the third of five children; his parents are still alive and in the village in Sokoto State. He’s their breadwinner. At 29, he’s refused to marry until, according to him, he makes it big as he’s not ready to raise children in penury. Having a girlfriend, he added, was also out of the equation. In fact, he wouldn’t divulge the address of his residence to a lady among the three customers who came to drop their shoes for repair during his interaction with our correspondent.
“I am not married and I don’t have any children yet because I am not ready to settle down. I want to make enough money before getting married because I don’t want my family to suffer.
“I am also saving money to open a big shop where I can sell footwear and jewelry at a larger scale. I did not finish secondary school. I only have a primary six certificate,” the Hausa man disclosed.
How does he view life in a Niger Delta state like Akwa Ibom? How did he come about shoe-mending as a vocation? Aliyu has some positives about Uyo and his business.
“This state is very peaceful and I have not regretted coming here. Sometimes, I make up to N10,000 in a day or within two or three days. I did not learn the craft of mending shoes. I’m not even sure it is something one has to pay money to learn because, just by observing someone doing it, you can do it,” he averred.
The young man, in his bluntness, bore his mind on the recent hike in fuel price which has negatively affected the common man. According to him, some business ingenuity is necessary to break even in the current economic tragedies.
“The increase in transportation cost is affecting my business because as a trader when buying goods, you are expected to add your transportation to what you are selling as that will determine how much you are going to sell.
“If the materials I use in repairing shoes have increased, for instance, the sewing thread that was formerly sold for N1000 before, has increased to N2000. If I was making N1000 from buying the thread at that rate, you can now see that I make up to nothing with the new rate. I can’t just be idle that is why I’m still running this business and not that it is still profitable.
“I can’t even increase the amount I charge for my services; if I do, I won’t have customers. Like it or not, it is the N50 and N100 I make from repairing shoes that I use to support this jewelry business.”
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