By Maria Famakinwa

Pa Okeke is a septuagenan in his mid 70s. He hawks palm wine with his bicycle within Oba-Ile environs and he claims to be making brisk business.

He sells  palm wine in addition to farming to make life comfortable for him and his family.

On why he hawk palm wine with bicycle, he said that it was the best way to get  customers’ attention. “I hawk palm wine with my bicycle because it is the only way people get to know what  I am selling. I can tell you sincerely that I make more sales than those who have shops because of my experience at preparing  original palm wine.”

On how he was coping due to his age, he laughed and said: “I am stronger than most youths of nowadays who are indomie noddles’ children. Using bicycle to sell palm wine to customers gives me strong bones because it is part of the exercise expected of an elderly man. Don’t forget that I also farm to tell you how energetic I am.

” Comments I get daily from customers testify to the fact that people like to see elderly men like me still very agile. It is God’s grace upon my life.”

On the job hazards, he revealed that some still don’t realize the benefits of palm wine as they compare it with beer without knowing its medicinal purposes.

“Another challenge is that it is risky riding bicycle along the express road. At times, I will have to pack if trailers are coming behind me because the breeze often shake me on the bicycle. Also, aside the fact that i make gain, the profit does not commensurate with my inputs because many consider it a sin to take palm wine,” he said.

Mobile shops are becoming a common occurrence on Nigerian streets.

They defied all entreaties by the government to get them out of the roads. The safety of their lives seems not important to them as they hawk their goods along the express road. They go about in wheelbarrow, trolleys, bicycles, motorcycles and cars.

Today, mobile shops have become almost a permanent feature in commercial activities across the country. Akure,  Ondo State capital is not different. It is not unusual to see people displaying goods like shoes, bread,  books, crate of  eggs, wears, kitchen utensils, along Alagbaka, Oba-Adesida road, Ijapo, Isikan, Road block among others. Some of them turn their cars to shops driving from one office to the other selling to civil servants.

The Hope spoke with them about how they find their means of livelihood amidst unfriendly weather.

Narrating his ordeal about his business, a 28-year-old Benjamin Chima, who deals in the sales of video/audio CDs lamented that it was not easy for him pushing wheelbarrow from one location to the other but that he has no choice because he must eat.

On why he could not get a shop instead of risking his life along the express road, he said: “I don’t have money to pay for shop. Aside this, the nature of my business demands that I move about to convince people to buy because it is not rice or beans that people come to buy in the markets. Some of my friends who display similar things in wheelbarrow at the entrance of the market are often disturbed by taskforce. Many times, they seized their items and they might not be released until they part with some money.”

On the job hazards, Chima said that the stress undergone each day in pushing the wheelbarrow about under the sun or rain coupled with  traffic hazards in an attempt to catch up with interested buyers especially in a traffic is enormous.

“Last year, a friend of mine was killed by oncoming vehicle while pushing his goods in wheelbarrow to sell along Oba-Ile road. Yet, we hardly sell up to N5000 in a day. Considering the hazards, the pains seem greater than the gains,” he said.

Also, Mr Friday Emmanuel, a father of two who sells recharge cards to customers with motorcycle revealed that he left the security job he was doing due to his safety to start the business early this year.

On the hazards of the job, Emmanuel also complained that it was risky using motorcycle to sell recharge cards which involves driving on the same express road with other drivers who he said hate seen motorcycle competing with them.

“The truth is that if the Government does not provide job opportunity, we as the citizens should create one for ourselves. After all, an idle hand they say is a devil’s advocate. I am struggling to find a means of survival rather than waiting for Government who have not been sincere.”

On why he could not get a shop, he asked: “How much am i making on recharge cards that I can use to pay for a shop? I make N30  profit on N1000 recharge cards, can I afford to get a shop with that? What I do is to convert my motorcycle to commercial use after distributing recharge cards to my customers. This is what I have been doing to sustain my family.”

A food seller, who hawks with her car to different offices and simply want to be addressed as Iya-Laje, explained that she turned her car to shop when her husband lost his job and things became difficult.

Her words: “When my husband lost his job and the money I was paid as a graduate private teacher could barely sustain the home, a friend working with the State government advised me to forget the teaching job and be selling cook food. She spoke on my behalf with some of her colleagues who are today my best customers. When I started, it was not easy because I have a baby, later I decided to be keeping my baby in a daycare which makes the work less stressful for me. My family is better for it today because we can now eat the required three square meals per day.”

On any plan to get a shop in the future she said: “I don’t have such a plan for now because what I do is to get my food ready before 6a.m and move to different offices to sell to customers and come back home latest by 10am. This might not be possible if I consider getting a shop because I cannot close shop around 10a.m aside the fact that getting a shop requires huge money which is not advisable for me now.”

On the job hazards she said: “Cooking is stressful and tasking. Though, I employed a lady who assist me yet, it is still very demanding. I do rest some times if I am tired. The profits I make from the business and the interest of my customers  is  what keeps me on the business. Selling food to customers at different places  is quite demanding,” she maintained.

Also, a man who used his car boot to display bread to customers along Arakale road but don’t want his name in print disclosed that it was the best way to make quick sales.

Asked how hygienic the breads were said: “I cannot bring bad bread to the public and expect customers to patronize me. People who know the quality of my bread always seek me out. We are using the car to sell for passersby who will want to buy bread but will not be chanced to  go to shop for it.”

On the hazards of the business said that  breads are perishable, when there is low sales, one will run into debts.