I crush stones for a living – Zainab Abdullahi

Zainab Abdullahi is pregnant, but she crushes stones to earn a living. She is one of many women who have been crushing stones in Gidan Waya, a village in Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Area of Nasarawa State. She said she was comfortable breaking stones even though it is a hard job, as she prefers it […]

Zainab Abdullahi is pregnant, but she crushes stones to earn a living. She is one of many women who have been crushing stones in Gidan Waya, a village in Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

She said she was comfortable breaking stones even though it is a hard job, as she prefers it to begging for alms.

Zainab, a mother and a housewife, said: “I have been crushing stones and selling same for a living to support my husband and to cater for my personal needs. It is not easy work and it is mostly tagged as men’s work but I have earned respect as I don’t beg and other women have joined in the trade and we are happy.”

The village head of Gidan Waya, Chief Zaki Yakubu, said, “I know Zainab for more than a decade as a hardworking woman who has graduated from a labourer in stone crushing and now is on her own as an independent stone crusher who skips market days to crush stones for a living. Some women crush stones, buy and sell on market days and go to the farm. Some are full time stone crushers and only maintain small farms for vegetables.”

The village head added, “We call this quarry Broni after the construction company. Broni Prono used modern equipment and excavated stones and used it in paving the Akwanga-to Lafia road, and when they left, we took over the quarry but using manual labour to earn a living.

“We cut a big dry wood, drag it to the quarry, make a fire which we keep burning for at least two days and then allow it to cool down for a day, that makes the rock to break with some ease. They use chisel to open any gaps and then break it to sizes depending on demand from buyers.”

He said one log of wood may produce about three tipper loads of stones a day, adding “We sell even pieces, wheelbarrow load, pickup van load and up to a trailer load of stones.”

The village chief and stone crusher said a pickup costs N20,000, while a four tyre tipper costs N75,000 and a six tyre tipper goes for N120,000, adding that the buyer would pay for labourers to load the stones which range from gravel, three-quarter to sand-dust.

“We produce big stones, otherwise known as ‘Kan kura’ for land filing only when that is demanded,” he explained.

According to him, a six tyre tipper of gravel costs N70,000, and sand dust N65,000.

He said just as Zainab, who has since became independent, some women prefer to work and get their daily pay on part time and some on full time basis, while those who are independent have a portion they control in the quarry for which they pay the owner of the land. They make fire, hire labourers to break the stones and sell.

The chief said they pay the owners of quarries, when they break the stones and they also pay to the local government revenue department from each sale they made daily.

He explained that they need to eat a lot of food and drink a lot of water due to heat and that they sustain injuries in their palms from stone particles that hit them in the process of their work.

“To start this venture, one has to buy a six millimeter hammer at the cost of N6,000, a chisel at the cost of N1,000 from blacksmiths and a gallon of water or a container of 20 sachets of water.

“The most interesting thing with these labourers is their determination and hard work as they work every day because any day they don’t work; they feel weak the following morning.”