I’d rather die working than be hungry – 74-yr-old vulcanizer

Raphael Onwanne would be 74 years old by October 15. By then, he would have spent more than 35 years as a vulcanizer. The frail grey-hair man, who now uses a space beside the fence of A. A. Rano Petrol Station on P.O.W Mafemi Crescent, has traversed three states and several locations within the Federal […]

Raphael Onwanne would be 74 years old by October 15. By then, he would have spent more than 35 years as a vulcanizer.

The frail grey-hair man, who now uses a space beside the fence of A. A. Rano Petrol Station on P.O.W Mafemi Crescent, has traversed three states and several locations within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with pains and groans. All he has for his business are an umbrella, a plank to sit on, a few tools and the vulcanising machine.

Always at the mercy of Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) officials, landowners, scavengers and touts, the soft-spoken man said lack of a benefactor compounded his problems. He had been to several locations within the FCT, having seen Utako and other places metamorphose from bushes to cities but still reside in a rented apartment in Karmo.

When he left Sokoto in 1986, a few years after he completed his apprenticeship, he never knew that he would still be in the same trade. The Abia State indigene had thought he would do it for some time as it was with the first trade he did – iron bending.

Onwanne, popularly called Papa, said the trade has placed food on his table and for his family of five, but not without several challenges including arrests by the government officials and severe body pains.

Despite the challenges, he said he would rather die from the business than die from hunger. When he left Sokoto, he went to Zaria where he was until 1993 when he moved to Abuja.

He said he was advised by a relative to relocate to Abuja after series of crises in Zaria. He moved down to Abuja and resided in Karmo – a sprawling Abuja suburb, while his family remained in Zaria.

But the proceeds from the business were not enough to care for his family so he sought greener pasture and moved to Berger Roundabout, a major transportation hub within the Federal Capital City.

“When I moved to Berger Roundabout, things changed for me. I went to Zaria to bring my family to Abuja because I dey get money, no be like Karmo where I dey make N400 per day. That time, I can get like N2,000 and like N1, N2 we dey patch tire,” he said in Pidgin English.

Papa, as fondly called by his customers, said though Berger was better for him, it was with torture and arrests from government officials as vulcanizing was prohibited at the roundabout. The cat and mouse game between him and officials continued until he could not bear it anymore.

“Na development carry me comot for Berger and the troubles from task force. The trouble wen dey give me no be small thing; dey lock us for one room put tear gas on our faces. That time, I no know say I go survive. So, as they released me, I moved to AYA Roundabout,” he said.

The standard six graduate said an association got him another set of equipment for his business and he started afresh at his new location. While still trying to get a grip on the business at his new location, a private company laying underground cables unseated him and in 2012, he moved to Utako where he has been for eight years.

But life has not been easy for him. “When I came back to Jabi in 2012, some people wey dey sell cement inside containers allow me to put my engine there. When I finish work, I go put my engine for their containers but now, they have destroyed their containers,” he said.

“When I heard that A. A. Rano bought this place, I begged them to allow me stay here because I no know where to go from here as I don already get plenty customers here,” he said, adding that his fate at the place is sketchy because the petrol station management could eject him from the location anytime.

He said things got terrible for him when his wife, a trader at Wuse Market, was diagnosed with arthritis. All his efforts to care for his wife were futile as she was incapacitated by the disease. So, he said he could not leave the business because he had to keep providing for his family.

Though he has five children, none is doing well enough to meet their needs. His youngest child could not further his education after secondary school due to insufficient funds.

He said some pedestrians and motorists, seeing his struggles for survival, do give me money though he doesn’t beg for alms. The gifts, which are irregular, always add to his daily earnings which he said varies from N500 to N2000.

On what has kept him going on the job, he said, “God. God say make I do am. If God want make I stop, He will give me a solution to leave. Na this work I go do till my time comes. I no fit stay idle make hunger wire me. It is better I am doing this work even if I go from the work, it is okay.”

But he said he doesn’t see himself dying anytime soon, “No be because of drugs person dey survive. It is according to the word of God. My father reached 130 years. No be drug make me to dey come work. There was a time my neck was stiff, I drink medicine it was too cost, I leave am na prayer help me.”

He said there’s the need for him to be mingling with people for his mental health, “If I stay inside the house, I dey think of those things I do not have but if I’m in the midst of people, any problem wey I get I no dey remember am unless in the midnight. If I remember, I no go sleep again. Bible say make I no worry, if you hear the full story of my family, you go pity me but with everything I still dey alive.”

He prays that one day people would help his children, among whom are two graduates, as he looks up to God for intervention on his situation, especially his next location should he be ejected from his current one.