By Awaal Gata
In the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), there is an army of youths who are known as ‘yan bola’. Most of them are from the northern part of the country. According to them, they are in Abuja to eke out a living. In doing that, every morning they wake you up by banging on their metal carts to announce to you of their presence.
They want to collect refuse from your home. The service, ironically, is not free. You have to pay them to collect the refuse. But as they leave, they get paid by someone else to receive those same items you paid them to take away from you.
That means, for most of the items they take from your home, they get paid twice– to take them and to sell them to someone else.
So, while many see or think of waste as garbage, rubbish, discarded, useless, some people see it as not only a means of livelihood but also a means to wealth.
What is unfortunate is that this group to whom garbage means wealth and livelihood is not respected in the society, but seen as nuisance, even when they make a living in their work, like every other workers in the society.
This group of people thrives by picking materials from wastes, either directly from homes or at dumpsites. They recover materials from waste for their own consumption and use or sell to individuals who patronize them or to middlemen who buy from them and then sell to companies that recycle in their plants.
Although, the activities of these scavengers are not favourable, scavenging according to expert opinions, render economic and environmental benefits with a great impact on Nigerian economy via providing income to unemployed individuals, provision of inexpensive raw materials to industries, reduction of the demand for collection, transportation and disposal equipment and facilities and also reduce the massive waste problem.
Visiting some scavengers’ refuse dump sites in Abuja at Zuba, Gwagwalada Tipper Garage, Wuse-Gwarimpa road, Jabi and Mpape, our correspondent discovered that more than 5000 scavengers are in the city.
They also gave created specialized communities for themselves, families and business, having about 2,000 population of men, women and children living in Mabuchi site, Jabi, 1,500, Mpape, 1,500 and others from 100 residents upwards. In all the seven camps, the operators said the total population won’t be less than 6800 residents. This is as they do not only get their materials but live in these sites near their goods, an environment which is more like a dumpsite. But they live more like an independent or isolated state having a corporation with executives.
In the dumpsite communities, the residential houses are built with just planks and discarded cement bags. In them live families with many children that just play around in the dirty environments without any business with going to school. Kids of school age in the quarters would not be less than 2500, and make up the largest concentration of out-of-school kids colony in Nigeria.
Those lands they occupy however, are not their own, but because of their acquaintance with the owners of the land, they stay with the agreement to leave whenever the owner wants to use his land.
The sites, especially the one at Zuba is more like a ghetto town where they have even TV viewing centers for football lovers, play centers for games like snooker, provision kiosks, food vendors, fast food centers that dispense tea and noodles and just about anything that can be found in a low income community.
So many women operate food canteen with cooking done in the open over firewood-fueled hearths, children play around in the site barely clad in filth rags and roaming wild on bare foot over litters of sharp objects, refuse that have not been salvaged for sale and form the top of the earth surface in the camps. Other common sights are stocks of the salvaged disused items arranged in bales and measures ready for sale. They are stacked under shades and sometimes in the open.
Speaking to our correspondent, one of the ‘yan bola’ revealed that 90% of them in Abuja came from Kano, and the other 10% from Kaduna and Katsina.
This is a sign of the high influx of people from nearby states, which is a pointer to the growing population of Abuja and its problems, especially insecurity.
Yes, benefits go with Abuja scavenging, but the problems are not left out. Prevalence of environmental pollution and degradation can then be inevitable. When the FCT board in charge of waste disposal cannot reach every household flowing into the city, the scavengers see opportunity in waste and their positive economic and negative environmental journey begins.
Speaking on how he has been living on wastes, Mohammed Musa said he was able to build a house in Katsina with the proceeds.
But the business isn’t without some headache. According to Joe Ukairo, Head of Information and Outreach Program of the Abuja Environment Protection Board (AEPB) the reason for the influx is because of the growing city which is in every sector and not just scavenging.
“I think it is not just scavengers. In fact most of them don’t come in as scavengers. FCT is one of the largest growing cities in the world and lately the rate of growth has increased in multiples and maybe because of the insecurity in some parts of the country and that can also interpret that FCT is safe and working. The influx of people therefore gives rise to a lot of economic, social and developmental challenges and most of them don’t just come as scavengers. Maybe because of lack of what to do for sustenance and they see others doing it so they join in the trade. That should interpret why they are many people in scavenging.”
