‘We are scavenging to become lawyers’

Ayo Blessing, Goodluck James and Victory Ufuoma are between the ages of 13 and 14 but have already mastered the art of fending for themselves by snorting around gutters, refuse dungs, roadsides, just anywhere for metals with the aid of magnets. They were unkempt!

The three teenagers were accosted by Saturday Tribune on the street of Etuwewe in Warri, Warri South Local Government of Delta State recently.

Though a child metal scavenger, Ayo, in Junior Secondary School Three, with indigent parents, would later tell Saturday Tribune of his dream to be a lawyer if he’s privileged to go beyond secondary school.

“My name is Ayo Blessing. I want to become a lawyer. I’m currently in Junior Secondary School (JSS 3) and I’m Ijaw by tribe. I am 14 years old. I live at Bright Hope Street, Warri.

“Sometimes, I make N1,000 or N500 on a daily basis from this job. I don’t like stealing because I want to walk freely around the society,” the Ijaw-born opined.

Goodluck, the second among the trio, though 15 years old, is still in primary school due to a situation beyond his control. His own dream is to become a tiler. Nothing more. This, he said, would reduce the pressure on his parents who live apart.

“My name is Goodluck James. I’m from Gbaegolor in Delta State. I am 15 years old.

“We are 10 children from my parents; my parents are still alive.

“My daddy lives in Sapele and he is a bricklayer, while my mum lives in Mene and a hair plaiter.

“My mum and dad provide for us by sending money to us. I am the ninth child of my parents.

“I am still in primary school at the age of 15 because I was enrolled into a lower class when I left the village.

“I was in primary six in the village, but was asked to start KG One one when I relocated to Warri.

“I want to be a tiler when I finish secondary school. My father has a second wife, but he still comes around sometimes to see us,” he disclosed.

As far as Goodluck is concerned, Nigerian political leaders are the architects of the suffering in the land because they are greedy and self-centred.

“Our leaders are not good because they are not giving us what they are supposed to give us.

“The money that they are supposed to invest in us, school children, they are taking it for themselves.

“Government should improve electricity and they should reduce the prices of goods and foodstuffs.  We’re dying of hunger in our own land! Must we die for them to rule over us? he lamented.

Ufuoma, the third of the trio, wants to become a lawyer, although he’s currently battling to pay his school fees regularly owing to the indigent state of his parents.

“My name is Victory Ufuoma. I’m 13 years old and I’m in primary three. I live with my mom at Ojabugbe but my dad lives in MaCaiver.

“My mom is a full house wife and we are three children in my family and I am the first child.

“My other siblings work at Odion Road where they are learning carpentry work.

“I want to be a lawyer when I grow up. English is my best subject.

“I want help in paying my school fees. They should help my parents with money so that they can pay my school fees.

“We have been doing this work for a year now. Sometimes, I make N1000 from scavenging metals on the street. How much food will that buy in today’s Nigeria?

“We’re suffering and dying gradually because we have leaders who can’t take care of their people. In my home, if there’s something to eat at all, it can only come up once in a day.

“We don’t just scavenge for metals alone nowadays, we also look out for food leftovers in refuse dungs to survive.

“Daddy, help us tell Tinubu and Oborevwori that we must not die of hunger since they didn’t suffer hunger in their time,” Ufuoma charged.