Sitting on a wheelchair at his car wash located at the popular Dogon Yaro Roundabout in Bauchi, Hamza Waziri keeps eyes on what is going on as his workers wash cars for clients.
The car wash and a business centre were the brain child of Waziri, a graduate and a Person Living With Disability (PLWD) who did not allow his confinement to a wheelchair to become an impediment to his dreams of being self-reliant and helping people with disabilities to fend for themselves.
Waziri graduated with a degree in Business Administration from INTI International University Malaysia in 2016.
He served his mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) at the Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic (ATAP) with an award for his community service, especially for disabled persons.
Waziri said that, he lost the use of his lower limbs at the age of six after treatment at a hospital.
“I got my disability when I was six years and it was as a result of wrong treatment by a quack doctor,” he said.
He said the car wash was established to give first class service to motorist in the metropolis after abserving the absence of such facility.
“The place was established on October 12, 2017 and commissioned on June 12, 2018. It comprises a Business Center and a modern car wash, which is first of its kind in Bauchi, metropolis. It also has a masa joint and a shop,” he said.
Waziri said that, he conceived the idea to start a car washing business because as a person confined to a wheelchair, he needed a business that would not require much movement.
“When it comes to starting a small scale business in Nigeria, a car wash is one of the easiest businesses to start although it requires much to get the business going.
“Every business needs a start-up capital and this business cannot be different. However, the capital we needed to kick-start the construction of our car wash was huge because of the modern facilities we bought,” he added.
He said that, he spent about N2 million to provide the needed facilities including canopies where customers’ could sit while their vehicles are being washed.
Facilities at the car wash include, a borehole with overhead tanks, an extra tank for water storage, cleaning materials like towels, brushes, hand brushes, buckets to mix detergent, interior dusters, shiners of different types and pressure washers and generator-powered water sprayers.
“Currently there are six persons working at the car wash out of whom four are disabled persons – Buhari Adamu, Idris Isah Lago, Abubakar, and Danjuma.
“The car wash is located on a little bit busy road with easy access. The number of cars being washed every day is considerable, usually between 10 to 15 and we make an average of between N4,500 to N6,500 daily,” he added.
He said, initially some people did not want to patronize the car wash thinking that his workers could not wash the vehicles well because of their disabilities.
But he said that “with time they realised that we offer excellent services even better than most of those in the metropolis because of our facilities.
“We are grateful to our regular customers and we thank them for their continuous patronage but we need more customers. We were able to achieve a lot of our objectives so far. We provided a means by which almost 10 persons with disabilities are earning almost a minimum wage of N18,000 a month and we hope to add more people as soon as we expand and get more customers.
“Moreover, we have achieved the main reasons for the establishment of the, which are to address the lack of empowerment and address the high unemployment among people living with disabilities.
“Being physically challenged myself, I discovered that my society is more comfortable living with its physically challenged members as underclass people. They are perceived to be weak and, therefore, expected to maintain a dependent status of living without little or no concern to using their talents,”he added.
Waziri said that living with disability is a perceived barrier and a challenge for him to find a job.
“I only managed to qualify for an interview whenever disability is not questioned in the application process.’’
He said that the zeal to provide work for people with disabilities and the will improve their lives was the main reason that led to the establishment of the business centre.
“Businesses like this will help provide solutions to the problems of discrimination and stigmatization against persons living with disabilities.
“Our future plan is to provide more employment to more beneficiaries through the expansion of this centre, creating another petty business for our female disabled and lots more. We plan to replicate this modern in three other states in Nigeria hopefully before the end of 2019,”he added.
Waziri has been involved in various projects targeted at people living with disabilities.
According to him, he has executed many community development projects during his NYSC days including the construction of a physically challenged friendly toilet.
He added that, he also executed other projects through an NGO, Initiative for the Liberalization of Physically Challenged People in Nigeria.
Several disabled people were also enrolled to study at the Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic (ATAP) which provides free education to people with disabilities through the effort of the NGO.
“We have many people living with disabilities who have graduated with a diploma certificate in many fields and there are many studying in the school now,” he added.
Join Daily Trust WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.
