Chasing Wuse II’s nighttime noodle-vendors

A car crawls to a stop, several vendors rush forward in a bid to sell hot noodles in take-away packs while others toil above flaming stoves.
It is already nightfall at Wuse Two. They start coming, one after the other. A brother and sister, Chris and Felicia Ogah, Thomas Ogala and his two co-workers, Mr. and Mrs. Odumegwu James and their staff of two. A stone’s throw away is the Airtel office and H-Medix, a popular pharmacy. Then there is Big Bite, an eatery, near where they set-up, one after the other, from 7:30 pm. Cartons of noodles are offloaded, ingredients, including cabbage and green beans. The night for them has just begun. They will be selling noodles to customers till it is dawn.
A twentyish Chris Ogah had dropped out of school due to lack of funds. But he is not the type to beg from relatives or friends, nor did he desire to remain idle. Immediately he saw the opportunity to be his own boss and make some money, he took it. Now he has two people working the streets for him with take-away packs in nylon bags, just ready for a customer that will stop by and order. There is hardly any time to waste. The business is a spinning wheel as far as they are concerned. Ogah ‘spins’ the noodles like the professional he is, while his co-workers sprint across the road now and then to deliver to cars with drivers who have barely a minute to spare to get some food. N400 is the amount that quickly exchanges hands between the vendors and buyers and the package is made worthwhile with two cooked noodles, crayfish, green beans, carrots, cabbage, two eggs and a little bit of stew.
There is a story to how they all got into the business of making this fast meal available for Abuja residents by the roadside. Years ago, Thomas Agala came to Abuja full of hope. An elder relative promised to get a job for him. But it turned out to be as a security man with a very humble sum of N12, 000 in a month that could hardly meet his needs. He dumped the opportunity after a while, stayed home idle, until another door opened. He began to work under someone at the noodles spot. But again, the stipend was N500 per day. Agala informed his boss he will be branching out on his own at the same spot. The man agreed and since he already had some reasonable amount stashed away, Agala quickly started. Currently, he is helped by his sister, Felicia Agala.
Tall, Felicia looms above other competitors as she accosts customers that make a quick stop. “Our parents are in the village,” the young lady reveals, adding that she and her brother have rounded off secondary school and look forward to furthering their education. As far as she is concerned, they deserve to make good money because “while others are sleeping, we are working,” she says.
In 2010, Odumegwu James came to Abuja, seeking a fresh beginning. A friend of his suggested he makes ends meet cooking. Optimistic, he began to work under someone at the spot. “I hustled, selling to vehicles on the road. I served him for almost a year,” James narrated, adding that by then he had wooed a good number of customers and so started his own business. Now James can meet a variety of his family’s needs. With two children, a wife always at hand at the food stand, he works hard and has already employed two youngsters to vendor for him.
“I employ without a CV or guarantor,” he explains humorously.
Best Obi is one of those vendors. The moment a car slows down, he and his colleagues rush forward. But it is not always that a vehicle pulls over that they make a sale, Obi intimates. Like many of them, he showed an interest to work at the spot and he so was linked to James.   
The noodle vendors all appear to be making reasonable profits which range from N5, 000 to N10, 000 on lucrative days and less than N2,000 on bad days.
After all is done, the sidewalk where they set-up – with cooking stands, pots and pans – is usually a haven for trash which consists of noodle packs, cartons and the like. But James made a confident revelation when he said by 7 o’clock in the morning there is hardly a sign that they had been there, because they ensure the area is swept clean. This, he emphasizes, is why they are allowed to remain in business.