The reality of the economic challenges in the country, which has made many husbands neglect or not meet up with their financial obligations in their respective homes, has forced many housewives to enlist in head porting services, known as ‘alabaru’(in Yoruba), in most markets in the south-west of Nigeria. Our correspondents take a look.
At the popular Bodija International Market, Ibadan, alabarus are a common sight and the job is populated by women. A porter ( alabaru ) is someone who carries goods for another for a fee as a means of survival.
Goods to be sold and purchased are transported from one location to another for various purposes. The porters ( alabaru) are thus needed to transport goods and wares, particularly since the African urban market spaces are mostly unmotorable and heavily congested, and the adoption of related technologies is mostly traditionally and culturally determined. Also, against the backdrop of huge unemployment, especially of women, in Nigeria and Africa, head porterage has become and remained an important leeway.
Our correspondent, who went around the market, revealed that many of the alabarus usually begin work around 6.30 am daily and close around 8 pm.
At the Bodija market alone, the alabarus are more than a 1,000 men and women who source for their daily bread through helping people to carry their purchased loads from the market to anywhere they parked their vehicles, or better still where they get public transport to their destination.
Most of the alabarus travelled from far distances to Ibadan to engage in the job because they wouldn’t like their families and neighbours to know the kind of job they do.
Some sleep in the market to enable them to begin their hustling early enough, while some cannot afford to travel back to their homes because of the distance.
You need no formal application before being allowed to do the job, but however, you will be requested to rent a tray for N50 daily, and hence, you are not allowed to bring your tray to the market.
Many of the alabarus lift goods weighing as much as 50kg, and by the end of the day, they make between N300 and N800 daily.
As tedious as it appears, some people who have done it for years have introduced their children to it to make more money for the family.
Some of those who spoke to Daily Trust Saturday revealed that they had their businesses before things went bad.
According to many of the women in the market, the primary reason for engaging in such a business was to be able to put food on the table while some are doing it to pay back debts.
A 45-year-old widow, who simply identified herself as Ajoke, and who has been doing the job for over 14 years, said she wanted to commit suicide when her friend introduced her to alabaru job in 2005.
She said she started the job two years after the demise of her husband, as there was no way to care for her three children at that time, but today, she had successfully trained them.
She said; “brother, we are suffering here. At times, we carry loads that are as heavy as a bag of cement. If you go inside the market now, you will see many of us struggling to get one customer or the other.
“Worse still, many of our customers won’t even address politely. They find it difficult to help us lift the load. And let me tell you, some of us had good jobs before we found ourselves here, but we have to accept our destiny.
“Like me, I had a provision shop before my husband died. Immediately after his demise, I faced some challenges which I cannot tell you here and it seemed the entire world came to end for me. In this market alone, we are up to 1,000 alabarus , if not more.”
Another woman, Iya Lateef, who said she travelled from Iseyin, to do the alabaru job in Ibadan, said it was because of her children. Iseyin is approximately 100 kilometres north of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
The mother of six, who was not sure of her age, said she travels to see her husband and children every two weeks.
“The problem we have in Nigeria, especially those of us who are illiterate, is too much. Many of us came to this market with the decision to work for a short period of time, but when you get here, you will discover that the money you are making is not enough to do anything other than to feed your children.
“Our husbands are trying but they don’t have the powers to do more than they are already doing. Like me, my husband is an ‘okada’ man and I know that even with his okada, he cannot cater for the family alone. Many of us get old quickly because of this job. It is only God who can help us,” she concluded.
According to Ogundeji Asabi, “This job can make you age easily. It is meant for anybody tired of life but decided to survive. When I first came to this market, it was difficult for me to cope because of the nature of the job. Many times, I fought with my husband because I wouldn’t have the strength to cook for him when I get back. But he had no choice because we lived on the little things I bring home.
“If there is a way, I will advise the federal government to help us. Many of us have our businesses, but we cannot do it because of the lack of capital. I wish the government can come to our rescue by making things work in Nigeria,” she said.
Another porter in the market, Folusho, said the trader money distributed by the federal government could have been channelled to revitalize the economy and make the country more conducive for the people.
She said; “the kind of job we are doing is not as important as the terrible economic situation of the country. Our money has no value. The bad economy has forced many of us to take up this work. If I can get customers in a day, I will make N700 with severe body pain in the evening. Is that a profitable job? I think the government needs to help us to make the country more habitable.”
Seventy-year-old Hajia Aminat Saidu, whose husband died 25 years ago, didn’t find life easy taking care of her children.
Raising her kids was tasking and difficult. Feeding, alone, took almost everything she was making from her little business before her husband’s demise, which led her to start working in one of Ilorin markets as alabaru (load carrier or porter).
A visit to the Mandate modern market in Ilorin shows that women nowadays take up porterage ( alabaru ) as the only means of survival and to take care of their families.
Their lamentations also revealed that men have continued to abandon their responsibilities, thereby leaving the care of the family to their wives.
Alabaru in Ilorin is common among women of different ages – the youngest being a 20-year-old mother of two, while the eldest is the septuagenarians among them.
At the Mandate Market, there are over 200 alabarus, comprising of both sexes. The females are mostly Yoruba, while the males are the Hausa boys looking for a means of survival.
Speaking with our correspondent at the market, most of the women said the job is the last option for them in order not to starve or beg for food.
Many of them have been on the job for more than 8 years or more, there is the hope of their situation getting better, as they look unto God and the government to come to their aid.
For 70-year-old Hajia Adamo Salaudeen, who was selling frozen food before her business was grounded due to over-dependence on it to meet family responsibilities and feeding, “I don’t have money again for my business which is why I resorted to carrying loads in this market. It is better for me than to beg people for money,” she said.
The story of Mrs. Aminatu Saidu, also in her 70s, was a pathetic one. “I have been struggling since my husband died to raise my kids. I was selling fruits and provision, but because the responsibility was too much for me, everything I had and saved got finished.
“Since I’m still alive, I need to survive and my children have to be taken care of. My family and I eat from the little I make from this market.”
Most of the middle-aged alabarus lamented over the lack of money to start a petty business. The majority of them are widows with children of school age or those learning one skill or the other.
For Mrs. Afusat Abdulganiyu, who was selling yam and yam flour before the business collapsed, started as an alabaru about 5years ago because her husband abandoned her with the children to marry another woman.
There’s also Adamo Saliu, who has been an alabaru for 5 years. She has four kids and was previously selling pepper. Her taxi driver husband has two wives but doesn’t care for them, so she decided to take the bull by the horns and do something to cater for her children.
The alabaru at the Mandate Market Ilorin have categories and groups who hang around the market at different locations.
The job, according to many of them, comes with its challenges and prominent among them is the insult they get from would-be customers before they are allowed to carry their load.
“Most people insult us when we approach them and we are sometimes underpaid. Some customers patronize us out of pity while some think we are thieves who want to snatch their bags.
“It is very challenging; all of us have either back or leg problem but because there is nothing we can do, we continue. Most men are not responsible, and some of our husbands, who were taxi drivers, carpenters, bricklayers etc., don’t have jobs anymore. So, some of us (wives) took up the alabaru job.
“We decided to stay back in Ilorin to assist our children who are either students or apprentices. We work from 8 am to 8 pm every day. During festive periods, we come earlier than 8 am,” they explained.
Unfortunately, despite the efforts, their dedication and the stress involved in the job, their take home at the end of the day is ridiculous while some of them borrow transport fare back home on many occasions.
It was also learnt that these group of people work in the market without paying any levy to the market management but contribute their quota by cleaning the market environment.
“We make as small as N50 and as high as N600 per day. Sometimes, we don’t make anything and even borrow money to eat and go home. During festive seasons, people usually give us foodstuff but there’s no peak period for the job,” they explained.
Many of them look forward to some form of help from the government and individuals who can help them with a startup fund to establish a petty trade. “If we can get about N70,000 each, we will manage it in our various homes to start petty trading.”
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