As the current recession bites harder in the country, Gboyega Alaka, returns with some of the most gripping stories of frustration and despair from amongst artisans and labourers, who by virtue and nature of their works, seem to be the most affected.
The day was far spent. Precisely past 12 noon. But a good number of the men were still seated in their usual shed, waiting and hoping, albeit without much assurance. For years, the men, under the umbrella of Bricklayers and Carpenters Association of Nigeria, have gathered at this point by Iyana-Ejigbo Bus stop; their banner, now faded and tattered, hanging somewhere above them, and weakly announcing their essence. It read: Call here for labour office, Bricklayers and Carpenters Association, Service To Humanity.’ The motive is for those in immediate need of their various services, to be able to locate them and hire them; so they could in turn earn their daily wages and have something to survive on.
And it has worked for years. Like one of them recalled, they’ve had their shed around the Iyana-Ejigbo area of Lagos for nearly a decade, if not more. They used to be at a more visible point right by the roadside, until demand for visible spaces forced them to this corner. But by and large, life has gone on fairly well. Customers located them and contracted them for jobs and they made a living. Sometimes, they got contracted for big construction jobs, and they worked on the site for weeks, sometimes months, raking in huge money and living well. During those good times, most of them have also been able to empower their spouses, by way of saving for rainy days; which they admit do come, from time to time.
But that has changed, which accounts for why so many of them were still seated by the shed this afternoon. The annual global artisan economy, according to world’s leading supplier of technology and services, Bosch, is said to be valued at $32 Billion. This, by implication means it is one of the largest employers of labour in today’s world. It also means that people in this category, such as bricklayers, carpenters, plumbers, welders and electricians, play vital roles in the development and growth of our world. In Nigeria, the situation is no different, as they engage in building houses, offices, roads and public utility edifices. The problem however is that the current economic situation has left most of them stranded, being that their services do not enjoy priority of space in most people or organisations’ spending.
Said D Ogunmola, a carpenter, the truth is that “Time has changed. There are no jobs anymore (and) everyday, we just come out and sit here all day long, without anybody looking our way. Ordinarily, we get jobs at least three times a week in the past, but now, we may sit here for upward of two weeks, moping and hoping. How does a man get bye like that?”
Even though only about ten of them were seen sitting or loitering by the shed this afternoon, Ogunmola said they’re actually huge in number but most of them have gradually left in frustration, seeing that it was past the normal time when people come to contract them for jobs.
In the middle of the discussion, Mutiu, a younger member of the group, who introduced himself as a bricklayer said “Look brother, the situation is so bad that passers-by now see us as miscreants and agberos, who just wake up and come here looking for free money, simply because they’re always seeing us here, come rain, come shine.”
He said he’d been hanging around the shed since 6am, just so he didn’t miss out on any opportunity; yet all that seemed to have amounted to a waste. “There are days that not a single person from among us will leave this shed for a job, except maybe to take a stroll out of boredom, or to go home.”
He said the situation is so bad that the lazy boys in the neighbourhood and around the bus stops, whom they used to tell off to go find something to do, now talk back at them and even deride them for their ill fortune. “One of them even told me to go and jump into the lagoon, telling me, ‘when was the last time you left this shed to go and work?’ He even told me to come and join them in chasing vehicles for free money.
“Let me tell you,” Mutiu continued, now agitated, “if I see somebody who is ready to take me abroad right now, as we’re talking now, I swear, I will not hesitate for one second. What’s there to hesitate about? What would I be missing if I left right now? Nothing. I tell you, nothing. This Nigeria does not pay anybody and I for one, I’m frustrated.”
Ogunmola, who said he is married with kids, said sometimes, most of them leave home to come sit at the shed, not because they’re sure they’d get jobs, but because as men, they could not just sit at home, idling away. The irony in that, according to him, is that what they refuse to do in the comfort of their homes; they end up doing in full public glare.
He lamented: “Things are really tough in the country now; pennilessness and hunger is killing us. We are praying to God to change the situation, so that people can begin to build houses again. It is when people have eaten and paid their children’s school fees that they think of any form of construction. Some of us, who had children in private schools, have had to withdraw them because they can no longer cope. And it is not as if they put their children in expensive schools anyway.”He lamented.
Asked how much they get paid per day for their kind of work, Ogunmola said he gets paid N4,000 as a bricklayer; same for carpenters; but that labourers get paid N3,000. Even then, he declared that he would gladly grab the job for less, if anyone were to approach him in this hard time.
Mutiu is however of the opinion that the wage ought to have gone up but reasoned that it is when you have patronage that you think of increasing your wage.
His opinion was corroborated by another member of the group, a carpenter, who said all they make do with now are minor mending jobs, such as fixing tables, chairs and little wooden bridges over the gutters, for which they get paid as little as N100, N200 or at most N1,000. He said, “It is so bad that now we combine breakfast with lunch, and what do we buy? Food of as little as N50 and N70, just to keep hunger at bay. In the past, we richly patronised the food-sellers; but these days, we have so incurred accumulated debts, that they no longer sell to us. But would you blame them?”
At this point, Fatai, a much younger man, joined the discussion. He seemed quite glad to have this opportunity to voice his frustration and wasted no time in announcing to this reporter that: “Look, I had to buy this coke on credit from the woman there. The last time I got a major (construction) site job, is over a year ago. Let me tell you, this Buhari regime has not favoured artisans like us at all. I think because the government is fighting corruption and retrieving stolen money, those who have money, whether legitimate or illegitimate, are not ready to bring it out for any construction work, for fear of attracting unnecessary attention.”
As a result, he declared that he and his co-artisans are ‘psychologically sick.’ “If you don’t have money, you’re sick, and it could lead to hypertension. People have also been known to commit suicide because of situations like this. As we speak, some of us have not even eaten anything today.”
They say it’s the recession
Asked what he thinks is the cause of the current drought, Ogunmola said “It is because the price of everything has gone up and there is no money in town. They call it recession, whatever that means. So people, who used to spend money on construction, are no longer able to, and people like us are the direct recipients of that drought. Besides, building materials have also gone up. A single iron sheet is now N1,000, while a bundle is around N20,000. Even a bag of cement has moved up to around N2,500. So that makes it tough even for intending builders and they just keep procrastinating. It’s like a chain, and the effect is ripple.”
Continuing, he said, “You salary earners are better off. You get paid, even on days when you don’t have much to do, but not in our case. You have to work, to get paid. What we go through these days is a case of one (day) job in two weeks. At N4,000, how far can that take anyone?”
‘Who the hell are you?’
As this reporter took shots to wrap up this encounter with the group, a voice suddenly bellowed, “Who the hell are you?” It was the voice of one not given to any kind of excesses and he simply wanted to know what gave the reporter the audacity to be taking pictures. But Ogunmola quickly came to the rescue. He introduced the owner of the voice as chairman of the group and also conveyed the reporter’s mission to the chairman. But the smallish elderly man was not fazed.
“So what!” He sneered. “Oh you want to know how we are surviving? Fine, you have seen it. Tell the government we’re here and that I, for one, have resigned myself to fate.”
Asked how often he gets jobs now, he looked up sharply and said, “Why are you going back there? When a man tells you he has resigned himself to fate, you should understand that that means end of discussion. There is nothing more to say.”
His was a typical case of frustration, as currently pervades the land.
Our wives, our sustainers
When asked how he copes with the challenges of the home, Ogunmola said “Our wives already know our kind of job, so they’re accommodating. They do their best to support us. Mine for instance, sells fufu and it is with the proceeds that she manages the home.
Olufemi, who had been quiet all through the discussions chipped in: “In fact, most of us have our wives to thank for our survival. Don’t forget God already ordained them our helpers. My wife is a trader and it is with her support that we saw our four children through school and still manage through this hard time.”
Fatai, on his part, revealed that his wife sells food, which makes feeding of both of them and their only child a bit easy. Even then, he said he sometimes holds back from eating directly from the business without paying, so as not to run it aground.
Worst end of the year
Ogunmola is therefore of the opinion that this end of the year (November, December) is the worst they have experienced in a long time. He said the tradition usually, is that people would be busy trying to complete their houses that had been under construction, so they could move in before the New Year. The implication of that is that artisans like us and labourers, including welders and iron-benders and painters are always busy. But that seems like a long time ago now.
Ogunmola also said the situation is robbing them of their manliness in the home, to the extent that they now rely on their wives more of the time for feeding and other responsibilities.
Almost echoing Fatai’s exact words, he said, “The situation is killing us gradually.”
At the other end of town, not far from the popular Synagogue church in Ikotun, this reporter caught up with a group of artisans working on site. They were busy building a row of shops. The head bricklayer, Alfa Adamo Olalere admitted that they were indeed lucky to have landed this one, but confessed that it was their first job in about a month. The reason they even landed the job, he said, was because they started the project and have a good relationship with the landlady.
Alfa Olalere is also of the opinion that this is the worst end of the year season in a long time. “At times like this in the past, the usual thing was for people who had building sites to suddenly speed up works on them, so they could move in or have tenants move in there. But that is not happening now. Everything is just dry.”
When asked how long they have been on this project and how much they get paid per day, Olalere said, “We started this phase of fixing doors and plastering three days ago, and we should be through in another two days.”
He also said they (he and the other bricklayer) get paid N3,000 per day, while the assistant (the labourer) gets paid N2000. A quick calculation meant that he would have made N15,000 in five days. Sensing that this reporter was doing a silent calculation, he asked almost in self pity: “How much of today’s immediate need can that (amount) attend to?”
Like the guys in Iyana Ejigbo, he admitted that more of the support in the home now comes from his wife. He said: “That is why our wives have to be engaged in business. That way, there is food on the table at all times, because children don’t understand recession and they don’t accept excuses.”
Besides, as a Muslim, Olalere said he believes in fate and that the God that created the mouth has created what every individual will put in it, and that we only have to strive to get it. He said the ongoing economic hardship was brought about by God and that it is a passing phase that will soon blow away. He therefore enjoined patience, perseverance and hardwork on all Nigerians.
Lateef, a furniture maker, who had been watching this interview with keen interest chipped in that it is the same with his profession. Lateef, who is married with children in school, said he has no regrets about his kind of work because it’s his passion, but said patronage is really low these days.
“Usually in November/December like this, we had so much work, that we often called on our colleagues, who were less busy, to join us. In other cases, you’d have had people, who’d have informed you of jobs to be done for them. Jobs could include making new furniture, refurbishing old ones, reworking clients’ offices or home interiors; but none of that is on ground as we speak.”
Lateef also said those moving into new homes are always in the habit of making new furniture, and that it doesn’t seems like anybody is moving into new houses this year.
Lamentations all over
At a point near Egbeda bus stop In Lagos, where labour workers of Hausa origin usually gather in the morning to get contracted for jobs, the story is the same. A couple of them approached for interview declined comments and shied away from the camera. One of them however volunteered in his smattering English that “Country is hard; no work, no money. We are hungry.”
Another said most of them have travelled up north to engage in farming or be with their family, since there is nothing to do in Lagos at the moment. A Yoruba man lounging nearby said: “Tell Buhari that the world has collapsed on us labourers. We are the ones suffering most because it is when people have left-over that they remember us. We are hungry. In fact, some of us are dying.”
Wilson, a printer, who lives in Badagry, said “If you go to Shomolu and Mushin, where real printing work goes on in Lagos, you’ll know that this country is really sick. The places are like ghost towns and everybody is lamenting, whereas they are usually a beehive of activities during normal times. Usually, I would have got several calendars and souvenir jobs by this time, but that is not happening. I’ve even gone to my regular clients, sent quotations and pressed the usual buttons, yet nothing is happening.”
Dare, a journalist, spoke of how the artisans in his neighbourhood in Ikorodu are lamenting and have literally become beggars, stalking those they consider a bit well-off for loose change. In other instances, he said most of them are migrating to other jobs with jet speed. He spoke of a funny scenario, where a guy he had always known to be a bricklayer crossed him as he drove out of his neighbourhood and told him, “Oga, you no get dirty cloth? I don dey do dry-cleaning now o, I will wash and iron your clothes very well, and my price is cheap.”
That in a nutshell summarises the bad the situation as it affects artisans in present day Nigeria.
