In Nigeria, West Africa where the standard of living of 16 out of 20 citizens is below $1; folks resolved in doing anything as likely-hood just to get food on their plates. Even though referred popularly to as the giant of Africa- Literally, that was a long ago invalid expression as the then Giant of Africa is now but a Minuscule!
With vast resources, but and haphazard Government and Corrupt Politicians, employment is like getting a needle out of Haystack and starting a business is like a suicide attempt.
SCAVENGERS
Stats showing enough waste to go round for Scavengers in The City of Lagos!
One of the last resort of the citizens of my country i want to elaborate on is SCAVENGING. A somehow lucrative venture to some and just to get a "MEAL" for others. After-all, an idle hand is the devil's workshop is the general saying, so this folks defies all human standards and stigma; they turned garbage sites to their daily offices.
Scavengers pulling their findings to point of sales
As early as 4am-6am respectively, they are up waiting for garbage trucks to come dump daily fresh crops of refuse they can prey on as another day task. There is no standard amount earned per day, but their earnings varies from as low as NGN200 ($0.63) to sometimes NGN10,000 ($31.72) or more depending on the choice of refuse an individual scavenge on. The materials in demand are as follows:
- Plastic bottles and packs
- Metals
- Damaged mobile phones
- Damaged Electronics
- Copper wires
- Aluminium etc.
On a good day, i make as much as NGN10,000 ($31.72); however, the risks involved is very high. The dump sites is full of toxins while broken bottles and the uneven surface poses constant dangers. I have been injured several times, but i think i am lucky. I had seen some horrible things in the past......Felix Nwokoch, a 19yrs old scavenger who started the trade at the age of 12.
The bottles are categorized as High-Grades and Low-Grades, canned containers are High-Grades so we separate them from others and sell them at a higher price compared to others....Ope Adebuji, a specialist in peeling off labels
COLLECTORS
Another category are the Collectors. This are like the sole merchants who buys whatever they specialized in from their various vendors- scavengers. Aluminium and metals cost the most, followed by copper wires, damaged electronics/mobile phones and then plastics. A kilogram of good metal can cost up to NGN3,000 ($9.52), while plastic bottles and sachets cost as low as NGN20 ($0.06).
An undergraduate college student of a Polytechnic in Lagos State Nigeria, Vic(Fictional name): spends her free time(Holidays) at some of this dump sites scavenging for stuffs like Tin-cans, used bottles and small metals to sell in bulk to some collectors. She said:
Instead of going to cinemas and having fun, she will rather scavenge irrespective of the ridicule she gets from her college students who knows what she does to earn money.
Like many Nigerians, Vic's fate is not so different as this seems like a legit but not honorable means of earning a living. Martin, like Vic is also an aspiring College student whom after high school started the scavenging business. He said:
I survive with the money i make from here which is about NGN30,000 ($95.16) per month depending on the quantity of bottles i am able to accumulate for sale. What most of us do here is to pick used bottled water and soft drinks containers, stack them in packs and deliver them to the collectors who in-turn sells them to Indians who crush and export them.....Naij
It is an employment without age barrier! An employment as i refer to it because of the passion and devotion to it more than white collar jobs. A 63 years old woman is also regular at a dump site in Oko filling waste dump in Ignado Lagos Nigeria West Africa.
LOADERS
Loaders are the third category. When Scavengers stack and sell their proceeds to the collectors, the collectors brings trucks to cart their buys, then it is the job of this loaders to on-load this stuffs inside the trucks which is a NGN1,000 ($3.17) flat payment per loading.
So this three groups; Scavengers, Collectors and Loaders basically runs the affairs of this mountain size dump sites, even though some of the Government workers in charge of waste and refuse dumps collects ridiculous fees as bribes from this humble folks to be eligible to scavenge on any waste sites, they are never discouraged and they work tirelessly in shifts i.e females work from 4am/6am- 11am and the males takes over from 11am till nightfall.
The exponential employment growth in the nation had cornered majority of this folks into waste dump sites unsolicited workers in other to make and earn a living. Residents of cities pays waste trucks companies to dispose their wastes and indirectly supplying the scavengers materials to be sold each day.
It is another mysterious world in a city, as to why and how the economy of a country so blessed in resources could be this bad to the extent of making citizens struggle for survival like this. A way out is not an individual calling but a collective efforts of many Nigerians, Africans and the entire world to think of ways to help this heroes and heroines trying to make decent money instead of becoming criminals.
Their hard-work and ability to withstand the stigma of been a waste-scavenger is really encouraging and must never go unnoticed, and so i will be convicted to help some of this guys at will in any ramifications.
Thanks for reading to the end the adventures of the real life hardworking and tenacious waste land Heroes!
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