A day with young ‘engineers’ of Damaturu GSM village

In Yobe State for instance, it is estimated that more than 65 percent of the youths rely solely on the government for livelihood,with many of them migrating from rural to urban centres abandoning their reliable farm lands that feed them all the year through in the name of search for greener pastures. Such youths who […]

In Yobe State for instance, it is estimated that more than 65 percent of the youths rely solely on the government for livelihood,with many of them migrating from rural to urban centres abandoning their reliable farm lands that feed them all the year through in the name of search for greener pastures.

Such youths who migrated to the “city” with primary or secondary certificates succeeded only in becoming institutional beggars while majority of the illitrate lot don’t ended up as street beggars.

Sunday Trust investigations, however reveal that some committed youth in Damaturu and environs have hope for a better life in the repairs of GSM phones.

They have broken the jinx of indolence at the GSM Repair Market in Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state and their goal is to advance themselves and the society as a whole.

Abraham Samuel, a 16 year old graduate  of Accelerated Christian Secondary school, Jos  said he prefers  being independent, and is aspiring for an to  HND certificate in electrical engineering at the federal Polytechnic Damaturu.

“My brother Joshua introduced me to handset repairs so as to relieve our aged parents from taking my responsibilities. He trained me for two years and provided me with support and the talent to earn a living, which is what qualified me to open my own shop” he said.

He is operating in an open market place with many competitors.  He has a table, a soldering iron, set of screw drivers, Pickers, soldering devices,led and a small tiger generating unit.

A locker stands right beside him exhibiting different phone accessories for sale.  With the enmthusiasm and expertise he works on handsets, Abraham will be a story of success if he accomplishes  his dream of becoming an electronics engineer.

As an agile young man Abraham welcomes all kinds of phone repairs no matter how delicate, a rare feat that gives  him an edge over his contemporaries at the  business village.

During my visit to the market, I overheard a customer calling him ‘Dan Baiwa’ meaning a ‘genius ’ Initially, I thought it was a joke but that comment attracted me to his stand where I noticed almost six people standing right in front of him while two others sat beside him on a bench, curiously watching how he was butchering a handset. I noticed how busy he was with an old Nokia phone which the owner claimed to have taken to Kano and Maiduguri for repair without success. But after Abraham looked it over,the set, instantly became functional again.

This elicited outpouring of encomiums on the ‘genius’ as all the people around chanted “Sai dan Baiwa”.

I threw a fresh challenge to him when I said he should ‘flash’ the memory of my phone but he calmly said “I only deal with hardware problems”. His modesty in telling the truth actually endeared him to me more.

Abraham says on the average, he makes N4, 000 daily and over N7, 000 when the market flourishes, adding that most of the problems he tackles are those relating to keypads. power, mouth and, ear pieces.“I repair between 15 and 20 handsets every day, and apart from eating comfortably, I walk home with over N4000 daily. My charges are reasonably and comparatively low to others’” he said.

According to him “I charge N300 for mouth piece replacement on a China make, but for original nokia phones, the fee is N1500 because the mouth piece is metal.It is easier to replace that of Chinese model than the original.” He stressed

As a business that involves a lot of people with different habits, Abraham says he has the belief that customer is a king. “It is normal for a beginner to experience one or two problems before you specialize, most of the problems I encounter with my customers is that in the process of rectifying their phones, other problems crop up and at the end of the day, I will be at the receiving end. “But that never stops me from doing the work again because without such experiences  I will not learn the job, even though my brother is always there for me” he said.

Similarly, Sunday trust stumbled into another G.S.M. phone repairer in the same market who is also a secondary school leaver.

Abdussamadu Siyamid claimed that he started the business with N60, 000 and it had fetched him more than one million naira now. He says  apart from handset repairs, he buys and sells used phones.

Syamid, who is also the PRO, GSM Repairers Association, Damaturu said he started the business in 2003 at Abuja before he was brought to Yobe by Dialogue Resources,  a communication company that trained him purposely to  managed their communication contract in the state.

“When the company closed in 2007, I decided to become self-employed and since then, my life has continued to be a story of success,” he said.

“I am one of the pioneers of this business in Yobe, when we started, the competition was little but see where we are today, many people are exploiting the market and for that reason I am combining the work with buying scrap handsets which Irevive and sell at a better purchase price.

“Most Chinese phones don’t have accessories in the market. I therefore buy them from people, dismantle and sell them in pieces. by way of replacing broken parts” He said.

He said he makes an average of N3000 a day. I achieved so many things from this business. I built my house, bought many plots of land and a brand new motorcycle” he said

He said his zeal in saving made him to engage in communal money contributions that are taken in turns, in order to accomplish so much in his live

“I don’t save money in the bank, it is only through such contributions that I save money.  Like now I am servicing three different slots, I contribute N200 daily in the first one,, N2000 weekly in the second one and 10,000 monthly in the third one,” he said.

adding that with enough capital, it is possible for him to employ many people and pay them more than the minimum wage being collected by government workers.

“I will not advise anybody to work for government. I use to pay for the school fees of my siblings but, my advice to them always is to create job for themselves, not to rely on government. With this little business am happy with my life,” he said.

Investigations showed that majority of the skilled handset repairers were equally less privileged youth from many states.

Our correspondent recalled initially, dozens of shops of the GSM repairers were concentrated in an open space in Maiduguri but the Governor Ibrahim Gaidam administration relocated them to a “permanent GSM village” along Gashua road.

The new market has a perimeter fence, many shops, conveniences and other infrastructure befitting a modern market.

Most of the youths interviewed appealed to government to assist them with loans in to boost their businesses.