Despite frantic efforts by Boko Haram insurgents to forcefully recruit youths in Borno State as foot soldiers, those that survived the hostilities have embarked on several money-making ventures with the support of the state government, saying they must fight poverty and idleness to avoid temptation.
Attacks on markets, business places, government and private institutions in the state has put a lot of people out of business thereby increasing poverty levels among the people. Menial jobs are not easy to come by while local government staff whose area councils have been taken over by insurgents are forced to take refuge in Maiduguri.
Youths on a daily basis wake up in the morning and hang out under trees and in scrap vehicles with no future plan. Wangling in between insurgents hostilities and military harassment, one of the youths that spoke to Daily Trust, Modu Fannami, said: “If you are a young man with a beard, soldiers will accuse you of being Boko Haram. If you do not have a beard, Boko Haram will attack you thinking you are a security operative.”
Fannami, a tricycle rider, added that: “Three to two years ago, you will go round the whole of Maiduguri and you will not see anyone that will give you a N200 job to do. You will be hungry and nobody will give you food or any financial support. It was a hopeless life. At a time, you will only move freely in your area where you are known. Nobody trusts any stranger.”
He narrated that: “There is no farming activity in the state as most of the farmlands are no-go areas. Bulk buyers of everything in our markets are foreigners that mainly come from neighbouring Niger, Sudan, Chad and Cameroon. All the routes to those countries are closed. That has crippled commercial activities in the state. At a time, to feed in Maiduguri was a problem.”
Apparently dissatisfied with the hopeless situation in which Borno youths have found themselves, some philanthropists and the state government introduced several programmes aimed at creating jobs for the youngsters as a way of fighting poverty, encouraging self-reliance, and reducing frustration among them.
Keke NAPEP, which took over as the major means of transportation in the metropolis since the ban on the use of motorcycles, is believed to be the major employer of labour among the youths. There are hundreds of commercial riders on the streets of Maiduguri operated by youths.
Shetima Isa Kadalla came to Maiduguri as an internally displaced person (IDP) from Gwoza. He told this reporter that he escaped from Gwoza about a year ago when it was attacked by Boko Haram. “I was in a camp here in Maiduguri for about three weeks. But on second thought, I left my wife and parents in the camp and went to town to get something doing,” he explained.
“A Maiduguri-based classmate introduced me to his relative, a government worker who bought a Keke NAPEP and gave me on hire purchase. I have since paid for the first one, collected another. In short, I have three of them now. I employed two others riding my two tricycles while I am riding the third one. I have rented a house and moved my family and parents from the camp,” Kadalla narrated.
“I am also aware that majority of tricycle riders in Maiduguri collected theirs on hire purchase and a good number of them have since paid and are now owners. There are several others working in that value chain as revenue collectors, unionists and ticket officers. We are all making a living from the tricycles,” he said.
Keke business is not the only employer of youths in the state as hundreds of others are into phone repairs as a business in Maiduguri. The specialise in selling and repair of phones, configuration, installation of assorted software, selling of phone accessories and the like.
Though people doing phone business can be found at strategic areas in the town, the main GSM village also called ‘Jogol’ at the post office area is so congested that shop owners sometimes complain that phone hawkers divert customers from visiting their shops through the offer of low prices and quick services.
Zanna Kyarimi is a GSM SIM card seller who said he was collecting only N100 from customers that buy and register for them before he got a loan from the state government and opened a shop where he is now selling both new and used phones.
“When I was only registering lines, I was making N1,000 to N1,700 every day. But now that I am selling phones, GSM lines, accessories and doing registration, I am making an average gain of N5,000 daily. The loan has assisted to uplift most of us. Majority of the people you see doing business here now are using the loans they collected from the state government to invest,” Kyarimi said.
Another beneficiary of the loan scheme, Ahmed Abdulrahman said the sum of N50,000 to N500,000 was given as interest-free loan to each of the beneficiaries to be repaid in one year. He said the state governor assured them that as soon as they repay the loan, another set of beneficiaries would also be serviced.
But Hamza Wakil, also a GSM business operator, said even though he did not benefit from the government loan, he is optimistic that it will soon get to his turn.
The state government has also tried to capture non-skilled traders in its Youth Empowerment Programme when it constructed corner shops at strategic locations now used for selling assorted fruits and vegetables.
At one of such corner shops in Maiduguri, a fruit trader, Gajimi Bakura told Daily Trust that he was selling clothes about three years ago with an investment of N80,000. “Eight days after I supplied N67,000 worth of male and female clothes to staff of an area council in the state waiting for month end to go and collect my money, the council was invaded by insurgents,” he recalled.
“When the state government built this corner shop, a council staff assisted me to get one. I started with N3,000 fruits that I collected on credit. Today, I have an investment of N280,000 and my business is progressing. With a little more support from the state government, we shall make Maiduguri a business hub again,” Bakura said.
Teenagers are not also left out as most of them are into the repair and sale of bicycle parts. Madu Sani, 16, works at Bolori along Baga road. “I started repairing bicycles two years ago. You know since the military banned the use of motorcycles, people resorted to the use of Keke NAPEP for commercial use and bicycles for private purposes,” he said.
“With a drastic increase in the number of bicycles on the streets, came the need for more markets for selling bicycle parts and repairs. I do not know the number of spots for repairing bicycles along Baga road alone not to talk of Maiduguri as a whole. They are so many. I am making about N300 from repairing bicycles daily. The common complaints are flat tyres. To mend tyre is N50,” Sani added. It would appear that business-wise, Borno is on the mend.
“I am also aware that majority of tricycle riders in Maiduguri collected theirs on hire purchase and a good number of them have since paid and are now owners. There are several others working in that value chain as revenue collectors, unionists and ticket officers. We are all making a living from the tricycles,” he said.
Keke business is not the only employer of youths in the state as hundreds of others are into phone repairs as a business in Maiduguri. The specialise in selling and repair of phones, configuration, installation of assorted software, selling of phone accessories and the like.
Though people doing phone business can be found at strategic areas in the town, the main GSM village also called ‘Jogol’ at the post office area is so congested that shop owners sometimes complain that phone hawkers divert customers from visiting their shops through the offer of low prices and quick services.
Zanna Kyarimi is a GSM SIM card seller who said he was collecting only N100 from customers that buy and register for them before he got a loan from the state government and opened a shop where he is now selling both new and used phones.
“When I was only registering lines, I was making N1,000 to N1,700 every day. But now that I am selling phones, GSM lines, accessories and doing registration, I am making an average gain of N5,000 daily. The loan has assisted to uplift most of us. Majority of the people you see doing business here now are using the loans they collected from the state government to invest,” Kyarimi said.
Another beneficiary of the loan scheme, Ahmed Abdulrahman said the sum of N50,000 to N500,000 was given as interest-free loan to each of the beneficiaries to be repaid in one year. He said the state governor assured them that as soon as they repay the loan, another set of beneficiaries would also be serviced.
But Hamza Wakil, also a GSM business operator, said even though he did not benefit from the government loan, he is optimistic that it will soon get to his turn.
The state government has also tried to capture non-skilled traders in its Youth Empowerment Programme when it constructed corner shops at strategic locations now used for selling assorted fruits and vegetables.
At one of such corner shops in Maiduguri, a fruit trader, Gajimi Bakura told Daily Trust that he was selling clothes about three years ago with an investment of N80,000. “Eight days after I supplied N67,000 worth of male and female clothes to staff of an area council in the state waiting for month end to go and collect my money, the council was invaded by insurgents,” he recalled.
“When the state government built this corner shop, a council staff assisted me to get one. I started with N3,000 fruits that I collected on credit. Today, I have an investment of N280,000 and my business is progressing. With a little more support from the state government, we shall make Maiduguri a business hub again,” Bakura said.
Teenagers are not also left out as most of them are into the repair and sale of bicycle parts. Madu Sani, 16, works at Bolori along Baga road. “I started repairing bicycles two years ago. You know since the military banned the use of motorcycles, people resorted to the use of Keke NAPEP for commercial use and bicycles for private purposes,” he said.
“With a drastic increase in the number of bicycles on the streets, came the need for more markets for selling bicycle parts and repairs. I do not know the number of spots for repairing bicycles along Baga road alone not to talk of Maiduguri as a whole. They are so many. I am making about N300 from repairing bicycles daily. The common complaints are flat tyres. To mend tyre is N50,” Sani added. It would appear that business-wise, Borno is on the mend.
