Joseph Thaddeus is one of the young people plying the burnt brick business passionately by the river sides of Inyiongun community, a suburb of Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
He uses the proceeds from the business to sponsor his education and to meet other family needs.
“I make at least N60,000 profit at once. The process of making burnt bricks can be improved if the government pays attention to the sector,” he told our correspondent during a chat.
However, Thaddeus like his colleagues, employs manual effort in making the burnt bricks after sourcing the clay from the pit beside the river. He then mixes the clay soil with water using his both legs to ensure proper smoothening before moulding into sizeable shapes.
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He would proceed to arrange the moulded clay in an orderly manner similar and softly plaster the outward layer using the same clay, after which he begins to burn the assemblage from the small entrance with firewood.
The firing continues for days until the moulded clay gradually turns red from its original black form to become bricks – that’s where it generated its name ‘burnt bricks’. At this stage, the bricks are now fortified to resist water and breakage, and is ready for buyers.
Thaddeus explained that the challenge is the high cost of woods to fire the bricks for days in order to bring it to its final state of admiration.
“When the bricks are ready for marketing, the buyers come to request for between 2000 and 5000 or more. A truck can load 2000 at once at the cost of N12,000 per trip to a closer distance. But, where the distance is far, the buyer and truck driver would usually negotiate for a higher price.
For Matthew Tyom, who has been in the business for 20 years, no business can be more lucrative than what he presently does.
He said, “I started as a small boy following my father to this same place, and grew up to find the business satisfying. Today, that’s where I earn a living.”
Tyom sells one of the bricks for N15 and makes as much as N150, 000 for every order. He said the bricks were more guaranteed and last longer when used for building that the conventional cement blocks.
“The burnt bricks don’t expire and it doesn’t break unlike the cement blocks. Moreover, it serves as bullets and fire proofs,” Tyom added.
Also, Terhumba Ajayi, who spoke glowingly about the prospect of burnt bricks posited that the major challenges facing the business is the high cost of firewood.
He said, “It takes N140,000 worth of firewood to burn 2000 bricks.”
Ajayi therefore solicited government’s support to grow the business into a cottage industry for the local environment.
Ajayi further told our correspondent that they have been digging the current site for the clay used in moulding the bricks for more than 70 years, stressing that it was a business and site inherited from their fathers.
On his part, Pius Agugu said burnt bricks can stand the test of time when used for building for at least 100 years while the cement block could only guarantee a 45-year life span.
Burnt bricks venture is prevalent among young people of Tiv speaking ethnicity in Benue State. More people prefer it for building their houses with some arguing that it withstands flooding better than cement blocks.
Cephas Iorhemen, a Makurdi resident who used burnt bricks to build his house, said he opted for it for economic reasons and its durability.
“It serves as bullet proof too, as I was made to understand. The disadvantage is that it consumes a lot of cement when being used to build and it takes longer time for the masons to finish work unlike the cement blocks. But it doesn’t break easily like the cement block except if it’s not properly fired. It also provides cooler effect than the cement blocks when used for building,” Iorhemen posited.
Meanwhile, an expert, Engr John Aernyi, thinks that the state government can use the opportunity to create cottage industries in several locations across the state where the makers of the burnt bricks practise their trade by the river side.
Aeryni said a miniature of the state-owned moribund brick industry can be situated for the brick makers close to the source of their raw materials while the young people are further trained to embrace modern technology to better their lot.
He added that, “When government comes in; the non-existing standardisation at the moment would be created so that the brick sizes would be standardised. Right now, the bricks are not the same because all of them are moulding different sizes.”
Our correspondent recalled that the state was once famous for its Benue Burnt Bricks – an industry located in Otukpo local government area, which not only created jobs but manufactured the bricks which was used to build some government buildings in the 1980s.
The state government then made it a rule for all government establishments to patronise the industry while neighbouring states also got their supply from the firm.
But, successive administrations, including the present Governor Samuel Ortom’s government have not walked the talk in reviving the moribund industry alongside many such others.
It’s hoped that the incoming government of Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia would give life back to the burnt bricks sector, especially because of the high demand for bricks products by both governments and individuals.
