Home and You Limited (H&Y Furniture Manufacturers) has signed a joint venture with Lebanese furniture company, Zinaline Zarl and its Nigeria subsidiary, Ecowood Manufacturing in Lagos, called H&YZ Furniture Manufacturers Limited.
The partnership is expected to expand capacity, market penetration and production of H&YZ Furniture. H&Y, led by Mrs. Feyisola Abiru, is a dynamic and innovative company specialising in design, production, and installation of high-quality furniture solutions since 1997.
Zinaline Zarl is based in Lebanon. The company owned Ecowood, its Nigerian subsidiary. The company prides itself as the industry leader in doors, cabinets (closets & kitchen), among others. The company is executing projects in Lebanon, Nigeria, Congo, Juba and Cyprus.
Toyota Motor Corporation will partner Mazda Motor Corporation and auto parts supplier Denso Corporation to form a joint venture for developing electric vehicles, as Japan’s biggest automaker plays catch up in the expanding race for battery driven cars.
The new company, called EV Common Architecture Spirit Co., will cooperate on the developing the architecture and components of electric cars for use in a wide range of segments, from mini-vehicles and Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) to light trucks, the companies said on Thursday.
The deal will create a toolbox of components that both Toyota and Mazda can dip into when making their own electric vehicles. The deal builds on a fledgling alliance between the country’s largest automaker and one of its smallest that was cemented in August.
The companies announced a capital tie up then, saying they would work together in a variety of fields, including electric cars.
Toyota Executive Vice President Shigeki Terashi said then that sharing technology would give Mazda and Toyota extra volume and drive down costs.
Terashi was tipped to head the new venture as president.
The companies said increasingly stringent emissions regulations were forcing carmakers worldwide to develop electric vehicles. But the high cost of electric cars, driven partly by their expensive batteries, makes it necessary for erstwhile rivals to pool resources. The new venture, they said, will be open to participation from other automaker and suppliers going forward.
“The huge investments and time required to cover all markets and vehicle segments is a pressing issue for individual automakers,” the companies said. “New regulations that mandate a certain proportion of electric vehicle sales are beginning to emerge,” he said.
The industry’s frenzy for EVs was on full display around this month’s Frankfurt auto show. BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen were among the makes rolling out ambitious plans to unleash waves of EVs over the coming years. Jaguar Land Rover weighed in with plans for full electric and hybrid cars from 2020, and Honda unveiled its next EV.
The new Toyota Company will pull select engineers from all three companies and have about 40 employees. It will be based in Toyota’s high-rise office building in downtown Nagoya.
Toyota will wield disproportional influence. It will hold a 90 percent stake in EV C.A. Spirit, while Mazda and Denso each take 5 percent. The two directors under Terashi also come from Toyota. They are Kiyotaka Ise, head of Toyota’s advanced r&d and engineering, and Toshiyuki Mizushima, president of the carmaker’s powertrain sub-company.
Toyota long remained skeptical about EVs in favour of the hybrid technology pioneered by its flagship Prius, as well as the potential for hydrogen fuel cells. But the automaker finally joined the EV race late last year when President Akio Toyoda put himself in charge of a new EV Business Planning Department.
It was envisioned as a flat, fast-moving organisation to mimic the nimble corporate culture of the Silicon Valley startups. At its helm were just four people, including Toyoda and counterparts from Toyota Group suppliers Aisin Seiki Co., Denso and Toyota Industries Corp.
That EV planning department will remain, while the new JV incorporate elements of its work and feeds new EV technology back into it.
WITH over $1 million in funding and resources, Chivas Regal has announced the return of The Venture, a global search to find and support the next generation of startups.
Making the announcement last Wednesday at a press conference held at Film House, Lekki, the management of Chivas revealed that the 2016/2017 edition of The Venture has begun its search for entrepreneurs that want to succeed whilst positively impacting the lives of others.
Craig Van Niekerk, Marketing Director, Pernod Ricard Nigeria, stated that; “A new breed of entrepreneur is emerging in Nigeria; one that uses business ideas to succeed whilst making a positive impact on the lives of others. Chivas Regal launched The Venture to offer significant resources to help drive and support the social entrepreneurship movement worldwide and in Nigeria.”
This year, 32 countries across 6 continents will be taking part and applications will be accepted from any for-profit-startup that creates both financial value and a positive impact on the lives of others.
Chivas Regal has partnered with E.D.C (Enterprise Development Centre) – for this years’ initiative, to find and support promising local social entrepreneurs across all sectors.
The top three participants will pitch their business plans at a finale session to a panel of industry experts chaired by AuduMaikori.
“Chivas and I share the same values – the belief that businesses must have a purpose beyond profit. It is therefore an absolute honour to be back again as a judge, to find like-minded individuals who are not only successful within their own rights but sharing their success with their communities. This is profit with purpose,” Maikori said of his relationship with the brand.
The winner will join the other 32 participants across the world in an Accelerator Week programme in Oxford, UK and will represent Nigeria at The Venture final event in the USA, July 2017.
Managing Director, FootPrint to Africa, Osita Oparaugo has called on individuals and corporate investors to pool resources together to make big investments.
Speaking at the launch of the Marketsquare Africa” and “Africa in 10 Minutes” in Lagos, he said the platforms will rule the business world and help integrate African entrepreneurs. He said the MarketPlace Africa is where buyers and sellers of goods and services will meet to consummate their businesses. He said the company is here to bridge information gap in business across the continent of Africa.
“MarketPlace Africa helps people find partnership. We’re ready to work with stakeholders to boost business opportunities in Nigeria, and across Africa. Head of Operations at Footprint to Africa Kenya, Milly Maina, said the company will promote intra-African trade and foreign investment in the continent through Footprint to Africa news and its investor services, which have given birth to its new subsidiaries.
“If you are not in Africa, you are not in business. It is a plan to help Africa find investors and initiate new business opportunities. The platform provides excellent service to investors,” he said.
Former President, Pan African Parliament, Bethel Amadi, said trade remains single biggest factor that integrates Africa.”We want to improve movement of people, goods and services across the continent. We want effective platform that helps ease of doing business across Africa.
Speaking on ‘Integrating Africa through Trade: A parliamentary perspective’, he said the level of inter-African trade has remained low at 10 to 12 per cent because of poor and low level of infrastructure.
He said corruption in civil service inhibits intra-African trade, adding that visa restriction is a disincentive to African countries. “Today, the biggest trading partners of African countries are in Europe, America. There should be good business environment for Africans doing business in Africa,” he said.
Minister of Industries, Trade & Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah, said the focus of FootPrint Africa was well thought out, saying that Africa is only two per cent of Global Gross Domestic (GDP).
He urged the firms to focus on SMEs because SMEs pay for services or have people that pay for services on their behalf. He expressed confidence that FootPrint to Africa will deliver on its promises. “FootPrint to Africa is an idea whose time has come. He called for the creation of the enabling environment for them to network and Footprint to Africa is poised to play its own role in that direction.
As Nigeria battles youth unemployment, SIKIRU AKINOLA reports that production of special Yoruba traditional fabric known as aso-oke is generating employment opportunities and millions of Naira for youths of Iseyin, an Oyo community.
Iseyin, the rustic town in Oyo State, prides itself as the largest producer of the Yoruba traditional fabric, aso-oke.
Located about 80 kilometres away from Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Iseyin is the gateway to Oke-Ogun, the northern part of the state with 10 local government areas.
Fabrics estimated at over N3 million are rolled out daily to meet the needs of several Yoruba people holding one ceremony or the other. The venture provides ready jobs for teeming youths who derive pleasure and contentment in earning decent living from it.
For its economic importance and social relevance, demands for aso-oke in all parts of the country, and by the Yoruba in the Diaspora, continues to make Iseyin the hub of local production, and employment generation.
For wedding ceremonies, funeral, landmark birthdays, coronation and conferment of chieftaincy titles, among others, aso-oke remains the toast of the Yoruba people. They come in different styles and quality such as sanyan and alari among others.
Biodun Sangotikun has a post-graduate degree in Electrical Electronic Engineering having completed his Higher National Diploma (HND) in the same field from the Polytechnic, Ibadan seven years ago.
One would have expected him to be working in an engineering company or be self-employed but his case is different. He still weaves aso-oke, even after he got employment with Iseyin Local Government Area. Almost 22 years ago, while in secondary school, he had begun weaving because “as an Iseyin indigene, we inherited the art from our forefathers. Weaving actually began in Iseyin. And it will interest you to know that all my educational pursuit were sponsored with the proceeds I made from this business,” he told Southwest Report.
It was later discovered that Biodun rides a ‘pencil’ camry. He, however, said the challenges in weaving aso-oke are more than the profit.
Revealing how he works for 10 hours per day, Biodun said: “What they (dealers) make in less than two hours is far greater than what we make in three days. Our effort is not commensurate with what we get. There are many challenges associated with this business. The materials we use in weaving this fabric are too expensive. It is expensive compared to the amount we sell the product.
“To make an ipele (shawl), the material will cost us between N2, 300 and N2, 500. What caused this is the fact that we don’t value our industrial sector. There is no help from government. We have seen inferior materials brought from China and people buy them. People from Ghana import materials into the country and government continues to watch. Our hand-woven fabric is better than the ones made by machine.”
In the olden days, you are not completely dressed without an ipele (shawl) for women and an agbada with a fila abeti aja (dog ear’s cap) cap to match.
Apart from the fact that the Yoruba believe that the trade began in the ancient town, everybody is involved. Behind every shop you see, with massive wares, there is a weaving point. You will be delighted to know that most of the residents make fortune from weaving and selling the fabrics.
Southwest Report learnt that people who are into other businesses and have big shops are in the business.
Popular among the Yoruba people and used for every occasion, the fabric comes in various colours, designs and qualities. It takes quality time to weave the fabric because the wool is delicate, though silk can also be used to enhance the colour and material. Aso-oke, which is woven with elaborate unique patterns made from dyed strands of fabric that are woven into strips of cloth, are of three major kinds namely alaari, sanyan and etu.
Biodun further revealed that most of the popular people are trained weavers as all the beautiful houses built in the past four decades were owned by weavers.
To make aso-oke, it involves a tedious process. The thread used in weaving aso-oke is made of cottoný.
Usually planted during the rainy season and harvested between November and February of the following year, it is kept in the bar for spinning. The cotton seed are removed from the wool with a bow-like instrument, splindler called orun in Yoruba language.
After sorting, pattern and designs would be made on the aso-oke while the cloth is being woven. In doing this, akata (propeller), iye (long wheel), akawo (short wheel), gowu and kigun (rollers), aasa (strikers), omu (extender) are used in holding the reels.
To make the cotton into bundles, the cotton reels are put upon the hangers on the sets of metallic pegs on the ground during patterning. With this put in place, the weaving process begins.
For quality and durable production, the thread is first washed, using starch after which it is left out to dry in the sun. It can take up to three hours to finish weaving one piece and can take up to two weeks to finish a complete customised aso-oke cloth. This process can be much longer during the rainy season.
Describing the process, one of the weavers said: “The rolled cotton will be neatly inserted into the striker through the extenders. The weaver will tie iro (filler) on his seat. There are two or more holes on the staff in which a small peg is tagged. On the upper hand of the omu (extenders), there is okeke (wheel or axle) for pulling the omu up and down. There are two step pedals under the extenders (omu) which the weaver presses down interchangeably during weaving.
“The pedal, when pressed, enables the cotton to open and the reeler put through to one side while the striker knocks the reel to and fro to another side. The striker allows the reel to be finely set interchangeably. The weaver handling the oko (motor) throws it inside the open cotton to be received by his other hand. Movement of the motor continues faster as if the weaver is not touching it at all.
“The reel inside the motor will start giving a peculiar sound; sakala – si – sakala –sa, sakala – si – sakala – sa.
“As the weaver continues this way, the cloth is weaved and gradually extends forward. The weaver uses the drawer to pull the cloth towards him and the carrier obeys the force and moves towards him while weaving continues.”
Fortune from an unusual venture
If not for the weaving business, crime rate would have increased in the town as unemployment would have taken its tolls on the teeming youthful population. They youth would have engaged themselves in nefarious activities. Even most people who are into other businesses, according to our source, set up their business with proceeds made from weaving business. As it is, it has continued to provide employment opportunities for the bulk of their population and has contributed to the growth of the local economy.
At Arapa’s compound in Iseyin, Southwest Report encountered a 44-year-old Waheed Isiak. He began professional weaving over 20 years ago.
He said: “I learnt the trade from our people. When I finished my Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), I intended to further my education but was unable to do so due to lack of finance. Faced with the situation, I then decided to learn a trade. Weaving was what came to my mind. Since I started the business, I have been making it.
“To the glory of God, I have my own house. Two of my children have finished their National Certificate of Education (NCE) programmes while the third one is in his first year at the Emmanuel Alayande College of Education; Oyo.ý It is through this industry that I became what I am today. I have no other means of livelihood.”
He, however, expressed concern over lack of government’s intervention in the business. He said the importation of what he described as tapanpa (damask) almost killed the business during the administration of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo. “The importation of damask by government, especially during Obasanjo’s second term threatened our business,” he recalled.
On the gains of the profession, he said: “We have achieved what we never thought. Even if we continue to encounter challenges, we will overcome it.” Pointing to one of his children weaving aso-oke, he said: “He has started his own. I will not allow him leave this profession; but I will encourage him to be educated to the highest level. Moreover, many of our people are currently observing hajj (pilgrimage) as we speak and it is through this business they were able to sponsor their trips.
“Government can project us by making us listed in the world trade. By doing this, we will be known and people will patronise us. Also, they should ban the importation of similar products. Sometimes, we lose; supply is more than demand. However, we make brisk business during Christmas and festive periods.
”If there is no rain, the production is high. If government can provide a factory for us with a covered sheet or tarpaulin, it will help our production as we will work all night.”
He said the importation of damask by late former First Lady; Stella Obasanjo made people to lose interest in aso-oke.
“Our people had to rethink and came up with new initiative. We were using cotton before; we had to resort to the use of metallic thread. It makes our works to shine and compete favourably with damask. People have started using our product again,” he said.
Continuing, he said the trade has generated employment for most of his brothers and friends. “Some of them sell while some of them weave. They are making millions from it. And I must tell you that there is no weaving joint you will get to that you won’t see a graduate,” he said.
Southwest Report encountered some underage children helping their parents and brothers in the weaving just as children between the ages of four and seven years were not left out as they were seen assisting in shifting the okuku.
•A boy with rolls of weaving threads for making of Aso-Oke
When asked if he would like to continue with the trade, 16-year-old Adewale Waheed, an SS 2 student of Faramora Grammar School, Atori Iseyin said he was born into it and will never leave it for anything except his pursuit of education.
“I have started long ago. I started by helping my father separate the wool. And it has not stopped my studies. I want to be a broadcaster in the future,” Adewale said.
The case of Olaide Waheed was not different from that of Adewale. The JSS 3 student of St. John’s Grammar School Iseyin, who wants to be a medical doctor in the future, started weaving five years ago.
In the case of Saheed Awoniyi, he has not made enough from it despite the fact that he started 25 years ago. Though his parents were into the trade, he also learned it as an apprentice. He said their price has not changed despite the inflation in the cost of materials used in making the fabric.
Moshood Lukman Alani said he would not leave the trade even if he becomes a professor as he won’t stop at anything to raise money. The holder of National Diploma Certificate of the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic began weaving in 1989. He learned it from his uncle when he was in primary school.
“I will go to his place and watch as he weaved. Afterward, I became interested. I have never looked back since then. That is the work I do. Even most of the teachers and principals of schools here in Iseyin still weave. The work has reduced poverty.
“If not for this, you would have been able to count all of us in Iseyin. Many people are in the work place. This is the only work that brings youth together. I financed my education with this and established a barber’s shop with it and I am happily married and have children. Government should subsidise the cost of the materials,” he said.ý
Mrs. Iyabode Ayantunde was born into the trade and she said: “At first, I did not have interest in the business until I grew up. I saw the opportunity in it later and I must tell you that it has been rewarding,” she said, adding that “there is no work without its challenges. It is not preventing me from the home chores and other things. I go to pray at the appropriate time. Everything I have done, I got the money from this business,” she said.
How the material gets to the end users
They are either taken to the market for sale or dealers come to take them. One of the weavers told Southwest Report that they want a permanent market in the town to boost their trade. With this, people from all walks of life will have come to Iseyin and it will further boost the town’s economy.
Currently, there are two major designated centres for the trade. One is in Oje, Ibadan while the other is in Ede, Osun State. They attract buyers from Ondo, Akure, Kaduna, Kano, Sokoto and even other countries in the West African sub- region.
While Alaari is very expensive because it is used for important occasions, the average price for either of these ranges between N25, 000 and N30, 000 for a complete attire. To get an ipele and gele, the price is between N7, 000 and N10, 000, depending on the chosen design. The high price cannot be unconnected with the high cost of materials and the time it takes to produce them.
To reduce the high price and improve quality, the weavers urged government to resuscitate the old cotton industry to make materials cheaper and accessible. The high price of imported materials is affecting our profit margin. A complete material which formerly goes for N9, 000 is now as low as N4, 500; whereas the cost of material is skyrocketing.
These materials come in different colours and sometimes they are not even available in the market in the desired ranges.
Apart from declining patronage, high cost of materials and unhealthy competition with foreign textile, one other major challenge confronting the industry is lack of access to loan. The inability of the people in the industry to access loans from either the commercial banks or attract government’s direct assistance is partly blamed on lack of credible association to stand as guarantor for them.
In home kitchens and backyard ovens around the country, small-scale bakers are encouraged to make fresh bread. This has created opportunities for entrepreneurs. Daniel Essiet writes.
•Omenogor
Akute, an Ogun State suburb, may not be the place where you can find your own formula of success, but Henry Omenogor, the Chief Executive, Menog Publishing, and owner of a micro bakery business, is attracting people with his baking skills and do-it-yourself knowledge on how to run a successful micro-bread business.
As locals commonly say, “you taste once and you will be back”, his approach does not require a crackling crust, but a simple micro oven with a wheaty flavour, wholesome ingredients and passionate craftsmanship, then bread is made.
In the next five years, Omenogor will be spreading a subtle revolution in bread business. This is because he is raising a generation of micro bakers, training those ready to raise up to N40,000.
He teaches them how to make simple delicious bread, which can be operated from their residences, using home kitchens. Omenogor has come a long way to become a successful entrepreneur. He moved from Lagos to Ghana in search of better economic opportunities. In Ghana, he started internet business and was giving seminars, attracting attendance until he had challenges. As an acknowledged information consultant, menial jobs were unfamiliar to him, and he spent many days dreaming about what to do until he had a dream to start a bread business. He became acquainted with many bakers in Ghana in the search for advice on how to start his own business.
Eventually, he underwent training in a local bakery, which opened his eyes to opportunities in micro -bread business. While he was making bread for Ghanaians, Omenogor realised it was challenging to make it as a foreigner as some distributors preferred to promote the indigenes and this affected his ability to make money and enlarge his business, hence he returned home to Nigeria and his story changed for good. Today, he feels at home in Lagos training young school leavers and retirees looking for business ideas.
He also exemplifies how micro-bakers can make a living, selling loaves of bread—made with freshly milled flour and baked in his backyard oven—to a few local shops.
Like many micro-bakers, he markets his bread anywhere and encourages others that micro-bakers are the next step in bread making. Micro-bakers, he said, seek unique strains of grain and do the milling themselves, using processes that allow oils in the grain to permeate the flour with flavour and aroma.
With this, some bakers can graduate to larger businesses with wider reach.
He told The Nation that there is a great need and desire for the kind of bread he produces and his bread forms part of a bigger trend.
He feels happy that his micro -bread business has turned into a venture where people can copy and create sustainable means of livelihood.
His bread, branded Ghana bread, do not just tastes good, it is a resounding commercial success. Although he had been in business for five years, he discovered he had more to learn. He learnt how to control finances, manage employees, treat customers better, and many more. He began to see business in a different way.
Omenegor teaches prospective entrepreneurs home bread making, business and management skills. What makes successful home bakeries, he said, is specialising in a particular bread category.
Upon returning to Lagos to start his micro-bread business, he researched the market to determine what his potential customers would want—and how much they are willing to pay.
Like in Akute, he discovered people were used to ‘Agege ‘bread and as such, he had to do something to attract customers and increase his chances of success. While the popular ‘ Agege’ bread may be accepted in some local communities, he said, brown bread will only sell in high brow areas, such as Ikoyi and Lagos mainland
He, however, counselled that though using only the highest-quality ingredients will be okay that, operating costs will be higher than average, and there is no way prices can reflect those costs..
Like any business, he said bakery’s success depends largely on commitment, planning and ability to market one’s products.
The other thing, according to him, is that the success of any bakery hinges largely on the quality of the products. The marketing plan, he explained, should include a number of tactics to get the word out about the bakery, including advertising, and opportunities for customers to taste one’s bread.
Survivors relive chilling tales of journey to Europe via desert
Many Nigerians, out of frustration, have been seeking greener pasture outside the country. To make matters worse, some of the migrants exit to poorer African nations than Nigeria for survival after failing to eke out meaningful living in their country. About 40 of such migrants died last Sunday of thirst in Sahara Desert, which has become a major exit point for many Africans who have lost hope in their countries. INNOCENT DURU, in this report, examines the horrors of embarking on such perilous journey.
Are you desperate to leave the shores of the country after someone informed you that there is a short cut route to travel to different European countries? You need to have a rethink. The journey is not an Eldorado as they might have made you to believe. You need to read this pathetic account of other Nigerians, who embarked on similar journey earlier on, to make an informed decision.
They narrated how many of their co- travellers died of intense heat in the desert and how rebels in different spots along the route sexually assaulted the females serially. Some of the victims, according to them, were put in the family way, while others contracted sexually transmitted diseases.
At the end of the horrific experience in the desert, they could still not realise their dreams. They had their dreams scuttled and started living as fugitives in another land.
How frustration triggered mass exodus
Checks revealed that most of the victims embarked on the precarious journey out of frustration. One of them, Osita Osemene, told our correspondent that he subscribed to the idea of going through the tortuous journey when he could not secure employment for more than three years after graduating from the university.
He narrated his story thus: ” It all started when I could not get a job after my university education. I searched for job for more than three years to no avail. I schooled in Benin and resided there after my youth service. When I could not get a job, I went into business. The common business then in Benin was going to Cotonu to buy cars for people. I started by assisting the dealers that were on ground because I didn’t have money to start my own immediately. It was later that I started having my own clients. The business was actually booming but at a point in time, I had terrible challenges and the business stared crumbling and eventually crumbled.
“It was at that point that the thought of going to Europe to search for greener pastures came to my mind. A friend came to me that he could help me get a visa to go to the United Kingdom. He said it would cost me about N250, 000 to get everything done. I trusted in the arrangement and gave them the money. After about three weeks, they said the whole thing was out. When I got to the Muritala Mohammed International Airport, I didn’t know that it was fake visa they got for me. When I was about to board, I was asked to wait for the British High Commission.I challenged them asking what business did I have with the British High Commission? Some security agents who saw that I was innocent alerted me that the visa was fake and that, that could earn me 11 years imprisonment. Somehow, I wriggled out of the problem.
‘’That was where my predicament started. You can imagine somebody who had obtained passport and visa (in quote), I was frustrated. Thereafter, somebody in Asaba informed me that there was a group that was leaving for Spain and that they needed just one more person to make up the team. He said there was job and accommodation for us there. At that very moment, I was desperate and ready for anything. I quickly rushed to Asaba and met them. The person we went into his house said: ‘We have been waiting for you, look at the other people, we are leaving this night.’
‘’I was able to retrieve some money from those people that arranged the botched UK trip. I still had about N250, 000 at that point and they assured me that it would take me to Spain. They took us into a place and the guy said we should not betray ourselves, we should be one and the journey would be successful. He brought water and said all of us should drink it. We left for Onitsha and from there we took a bus to the border in Kano State.”
The story is a bit different for Victoria, one of the returnees based in Benin. Unlike Osita who was deceived to embark on the journey by a cabal through a friend, Victoria said she embarked on the journey without any prompting by anybody. She traced her involvement in the awkward migration train to a failed marital relationship.
“Nobody took me to the desert. I went on my own but many ladies here in Benin were recruited for the journey by some madams. Circumstances around me at that point in time forced me to take the decision. My fiancée jilted me and it caused me serious setback to the point that I fell ill for a long time. Thereafter, I decided to leave the shores of the country to have a new lease of life”, she said.
Though, Edward Osamaye, an ex military officer based also in Benin took to the jouney out of his own volition, he said the poor remuneration he was getting working with the Nigerian army forced him to quit the service to go to in to the desert with the aim of transiting to Europe from there.
He told our correspondent how he used the Atlas as a guide to embark on the trip.
“I went to the desert by myself. I looked at the Atlas map and used it to find my way into the desert with the aim of connecting Europe from there. I moved from Edo State to Kano and from Kano, I moved to Zinder in Niger Republic. From, there I moved to Duruku and boarded a land cruiser to Libya. Those who boarded trucks later had problem on their way and 90 of them died in the process.
“I was serving the Nigerian army before I quit to embark on the journey. I left the Nigerian army immediately I came back from Liberia. I decided to leave in 1996 because they were not paying me well,’’ he narrated.
Tony Jimoh Iraboh, the provost of the United Returnees Foundation (UPF) in Benin said he embarked on the journey immediately after his secondary school education hoping to continue his education in Europe.
He said: “I decided to travel on my own after my secondary school education because that was the in-thing in Benin that period. I left immediately I finished my West African Examination Council (WAEC) examination with the hope of continuing my education in europe.Before I took the decision, I was given the impression that travelling through the desert to europe was easy.”
The horrific experience in the desert
Contrary to the expectation of most of the travellers, the journey through the desert was not paved with marble, it was rough. They recounted that it was like passing through the valley of the shadow of death. Incidentally, a good number of them died in the process, with many of the ladies serially abused sexually by the savage rebels that mounted road blocks at various spots in the desert.
Tony recalled how the rebels asked them to stand stark naked at a point and picked the ladies in their midst one after another and raped them. He said each victim was raped by at least five rebels.
He said: “We had to be settling some of the soldiers in the desert before they would allow us to past their place. They were collecting about 200CFA. We lost one lady whose name was joy in our vehicle. She died of convulsion. Three people also died in the other vehicle that was coming with us.
“There was a place in the desert called Mountain Ogan where some rebels mounted road block. When we got there, they asked all of us, male and female to remove our clothes and stand naked. They would pick any lady of their choice and five of them would rape the victim in our presence. At times some of the victims would faint in the process and immediately that happened, they would say, hey Nigerians, come and carry your sister. Most of the ladies were bleeding profusely from their private parts at the end of the day. We carried them and treated them by administering some of the drugs we bought earlier.”
His assertions were corroborated by Victoria. She said: ” The rebels raped many ladies that travelled through the desert. Some agents, those who connive with madams in Benin to take innocent young girls through the journey, also abuse the ladies sexually because they are always at their mercy. Some of the ladies became pregnant at the end of the day.”
Edward also gave account of how they were flogged mercilessly by the rebels.With the benefit of hind sight, he narrated: “When we were journeying through the desert, we met some rebels on the way. They kept us with them for good five days and were flogging us. They asked us to be fetching water for them for the whole days. The fact that we ran errands for them did not make them to pity us. They flogged us as if we were animals. It was when another batch of travellers came to the spot that they released us.”
Signs that the journey through the desert would be rough, according to Osita, began to manifest when the agents who were conveying them asked them to buy some edibles that would sustain them in the desert.
He said: “The agent that was carrying us said we should go and buy garri, cabin biscuit and some other edibles. When I demanded to know why we needed to do that, he said I should look at others buying theirs and that I should join them. I bought some of those things and we left for Zinder in Niger Republic. When we got there, somebody, one Alhaji, was already waiting for us. He took us into his compound where I saw a large number of Nigerians- young boys and girls. I later engaged some of them and to my surprise, one told me he had been there for six months and another told me that he had been there for four months. One told me that he had been there for sometime but he was looking for money to make up the amount he needed to pay for his trip to Italy. Right there in Zinder, the travelling arrangement changed. They said they were killing Nigerians on Morrocco route.
” After some days in Zinder, they brought some jeeps and said we were leaving for Agadez, a historic community in Niger Republic. It took us a whole day to get there from Zinder. Because I challenged them in Zinder for not putting us in a hotel, they made arrangement for us to stay in a hotel at Agadez. The hotel was owned by a Nigerian from Benin. Unfortunately, rebels started fighting around the hotel surroundings and we had to leave for a collection centre. The houses there were goat houses and that was where we had to live in without minding the goat litters that dotted the whole place. We were paying between 1000 and 2000 CFA everyday and were about 50 in the house.
“After about five days in the area, they brought another set of jeeps and we went deep into the desert. When we were leaving Agadez, we were each asked to buy two 25 litres of water and another five litres of water as well as a large bag of garri and firewood each. At that point, it was very difficult for me to turn back. The story was always changing because you would always see somebody that would encourage you, even when you see people who were stranded. It was a long and tortous journey and after some days, we landed in a camp in a place called Duruku. It was a military camp where travellers rest, and where the agents hand them over to other agents who would take them to Libya. By the time we got to Duruku, we were all fagged out. There the soldiers were harassing and extorting money from people. We spent some days there waiting for trucks that would come to take us to Libya.
“When we left Duruku for Libya, a good number of us started dying. There was a point when 250 Nigerians died because their truck broke down and nobody could locate it in the desert. They started trekking and in the process, their food and water got exhausted and they died of exhaustion. They were buried there and because of that, a well was dug there by the Niger and Libyan governments so that travellers along the area could have access to water. There was a stage that our truck also missed its way and we kept turning around and we exhausted our water and food. We were lucky because we had few days to get to the next town called Tijeri but some of us couldn’t make it, they died. Majority had to pull their shirts and trousers because the heat was extremely too much. We were begging for urine to drink because water was no where for us to drink. We managed with the help of some ladies because they are said to be stronger than men in the desert. They said it
is as a result of their abdomen and breast, but men easily get tired in the desert. It was these females whose urine we (the males) were begging to give us to drink.
“At a point in Duruku, the rebels would give you a white substance to drink because they believed that Nigerians could swallow their money. I, for instance, hid my money in my anus. Whenever I wanted to use money, I would go to a corner as if I wanted to defecate and stylishly bring the money out. I don’t do it again now but I did it for security reasons in the desert. Some people swallowed their money but I preferred to hide it through my anus. The rebels would line travellers up and if you say you don’t have money, they would beat you and after beating you, they would give you that white substance to drink. Once you drank it, everything in your stomach would come out. If money did not come out, they would dip their gun into your anus and move it around. I was able to escape such because I always had some CFA with me and used it to settle at those points. The moment you pay, they would ask you to go to one side and from there, you would be watching
the terror they unleashed on those who could not pay. They tortured many to death and raped the females openly, right there in our presence.”
Unfulfilled dream of crossing to Europe and life as fugitives in Libya
After weathering the storm in the desert to arrive in Libya, the last port of crossing to their respective European countries of destinations, many of the adventurers had their dreams dashed for various reasons. Stranded, they resorted to doing menial jobs and lived as fugitives in the North African country until the Federal Government repatriated them back to the country at the wake of the crisis that broke out in the country.
Tony narrated his experience in his own words: “When some of us got to Libya, we didn’t have freedom of movement because we were illegal immigrants, so they went and hid us in a farm. From the farm, we had the opportunity of making calls to our family members to send us money to cross to Europe. At the end of the day, I could not cross to Europe again because many people who took the risk perished in the Mediterranean Sea. I even lost one of my very close friends in the same circumstance. Later on, I found my way out of the camp and joined other black people in the area. I met a Nigerian who was working as a panel beater and mechanic. I joined him and worked with him to earn a living. I also learnt bricklaying, electric and tiles fixing skills right there. Those were the things I was using to eke out a living for myself. Some of the females then were into hairdressing for a living, while majority engaged in prostitution.”
Edward also gave an account of the unpalatable condition they lived in Libya. He said: “When I got to Libya, I tried crossing the sea twice but the boats that were to carry me across the sea were having problems. Many people who tried to take the risk died in the process, although some succeeded in crossing to Europe. I was doing painting job to earn a living in Libya. Before then I engaged in washing cars to make both ends meet. While doing the menial job, police would always come to harass us. When they arrested you, they would collect all the money you must have made and send you back to zero. At times, they would come into your house to raid and cart away every money you would have been saving to come back to Nigeria to start one business or the other. This was aggravated by our inability to go to the bank to save our hard-earned money. What some of us resorted to doing was to always go to the back of our houses in the middle of the night and hide
our money in empty beverage tins. We all put marks on the spots we kept our tins. Some people tucked their money inside their anus.At times some of them would forget that they kept money in their anus and when they went to toilet, they mistakingly flushed the money with their faeces. This made many of our people to automatically return to zero.”
Osita said he did not hesitate to return to the country immediately it dawned on him that the journey might end in death. When we got to Tijeri, we were moved to Quatron in Libya. The agents sold Nigerian ladies for prostitution at Quatron and employed stranded males to do odd jobs for which they were paid peanut. Some people were employed in places where they broke hard rocks manually. As at the time we were at Quatron, we had spent more than two months on the trip. We spent some days in the collection house they kept us. From there, they moved us one night to another place called Sahaba, another state in Libya. After some time, we left for Tripoli.
‘’I never knew that we were going to cross through the sea because that was not part of the earlier plan. When we got to a place called Zuara by the side of the sea, they said we should pay $1200 and showed me a boat that was going to carry us. They said we were almost completed. I was frightened because it was just a boat, the type you find at Takwa Bay that was to carry us across the sea. They called the boat Lampalampa.
“When I saw it, I said God forbid that I entered such a boat to cross the sea and it was at that point that I took the decision to return home. I encouraged some other people in my shoes to join me in returning back to the country. Some of them were reluctant because they said they didn’t know what to tell their people back home. I had some extra money on me so I was able to persuade about four other co- travellers to join me in returning to the country. The money was able to pay our bills because the expenses were reduced on our way back”, he stated.
Journey back home and search for means of livelihood
After a long and tortuous sojourn in a foreign land all in a bid to travel to European countries, some of the travellers obeyed the maxim that says there is always no place like home and came back to the country. The journey back to the country has, however, not been without serious challenges as they needed to be gainfully engaged. Most of the returnees in Edo State on their return to the country enjoyed empowerment training programme by the government.
Tony spoke about their dilemma: ‘’I came back to Nigeria and went back to Libya in 2009. I finally came back to Nigeria with others when war broke out in Libya. The Federal Government arranged for our return. When we came back, we made the Federal Government and Edo State government to know that we were not interested in going back to Libya again, that we wanted to stay in our country. They made us to undergo some few weeks of training in farming, fishing and livestock production.
“After the training, they issued us certificate. They said we should go and look for land where we would start our business. We did by acquiring lands on lease from people in our communities. The name of our cooperative society is United Returnees Foundation, it is registered. Life has been pretty difficult since we came back to the country but we cannot take to crime because of that. We do have meetings from time to time to encourage one another.
‘’After the training by the government, I have also paid to attend series of seminars on fish farming because it is an area I am really interested in.”
The desert experience seemed to be at Osita’s advantage. It provided him with the idea to start establish a non-governmental organisation called Patrotic Citizens’ Initiative.
It is astonishing that his desert experience and not his university qualification ended the unemployment woes that frustrated him to embark on the horrific journey.
He said: ‘’As I was returning, it occurred to me that many Nigerians don’t know about the horrors of embarking on such journey. It was a route from where many depraved people in the society are making money and smiling to the banks and it is a route where many Nigerians are dying in their numbers and innocent girls sold into prostitution. At that point, I said the best thing for me to do is to expose the evil and try as much as possible to discourage the trend. On my return to the country, I stayed back in Sokoto for a whole year, doing self-rehabilitation.
‘’at the end of the day, I decided to establish Patrotic Citizens Initiative, an organisation that is campaigning against irregular migration and human trafficking in Nigeria and West Africa at large. We also assist in the repatriation of stranded irregular migrants and victims of human trafficking. We do empowerment training programme for them considering the kind of situation they found themselves. We also do a sort of rehabilitation programme, although we don’t have shelter yet but we do referral. I am also the public relations officer of the network of Civil Society Against Child Traficking, Labour and Abuse.”
He said the government has a big role to play in checking the menace which he said is on the increase. “Government’s intervention in the situation has not been easy because there is a large number of stranded Nigerians. At times the government would tell you that they were not the ones that sent you on such mission. They should have a package for identified returnees. They could be given small loans to start small businesses.
‘’The Swiss government is even doing it for Nigerians. They train, monitor and empower those returnees. The government could also establish a place for rehabilitating the returnees at least for two months, because most of these people are battered emotionally; they are battered psychologically; they are battered even physically. Some of them came back with different ailments. You can imagine somebody who was raped and impregnated, abandoned to carry the pregnancy for nine months and eventually delivered of the baby in the desert. Government should pay more attention through the agencies who are really taking charge of this thing.’’
With initial seed fund of N500 million made available by the Federal Government as part of the $15 million Technology Venture Capital Fund needed to grow the nation’s local software sector through incubation programme, the government said it is searching for reputable venture fund manager to manage the fund.
Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, said the N500 million seeded through the Nigeria Information Technology Development Fund (NITDEF) is expected to attract the remaining $12 million from private individuals and investors locally and internationally.
She said, “The Federal Government has allocated N500milion to the fund. We are looking for fund managers to raise the remaining. We are not only looking for institutional investors but also individual investors,” Omobola said, adding that telecoms operators are not barred from funding the venture capital.
According to her, as part of efforts to grow the software sub-sector of the ICT industry and make it contribute substantially to the gross domestic product (GDP) the government came up with the idea of setting up incubation centres with the pilot project located in Lagos and Calabar, Cross River State capital.
Johnson said the e-Learning Centre would host the software incubation centre in Lagos while Tinapa Knowledge City would house the Cross River State innovation centre.
Rather than being government-owned, the minister said the innovation centres would be ‘government-inspired’ or ‘government- catalysed’ but would eventually be run by a non-profit organisation to be set up soon.
She assured that the Federal Government would initially provide the enabling environment for the proper take off of the incubation centres and later step aside and allow the centres to have lives of their own.
Specifically, the minister said the software incubation programme would initially be government-funded with the aim of attracting more investors in the long run.
Shedding more light on the programme, Ms. Helen Anatogo, programme manager in charge of the implementation of the software incubation programme, in a presentation, disclosed that the Federal Goverment planned to have established six incubation software incubation centres by the end of 2015.
Abeokuta, Enugu, Ife and Abuja have been chosen as potential centres for the establishment of incubation centres in the country. The choice is based on parameters like presence of large students and availability of tertiary institutions in the areas.
The focus of the software incubation programme and centres, according to her, include enterprise software development, linguistic software, custom programming, mobile software, business intelligence and gaming.
Essentially targeted at students, start-ups and software development companies, the programme would offer business and technological training, access to software development tools at no cost, use of facilities and computer resources for development purposes, mentoring, assistance with marketing and promotion, as well as access to finance.
