Kugbo: Where scrap dealers are mistaken for scavengers

The Kugbo scrap market is a beehive of commercial activities where condemned vehicles are turned into a money spinner.  The dealers make brisk business from what many have considered unrewarding business. Some of them see it as a major waste recycling business. They take pride in what they do so much so that they said […]

The Kugbo scrap market is a beehive of commercial activities where condemned vehicles are turned into a money spinner. 

The dealers make brisk business from what many have considered unrewarding business. Some of them see it as a major waste recycling business. They take pride in what they do so much so that they said the society should be thankful for their intervention. 

Aso Chronicle gathered that it takes but a few hours to dissemble a vehicle at the Kugbo scrap workshop. 

The market consists of different sections, fashioned towards different car parts. There is a section for the engine, doors, trunks, headlights, carpets, seat belts, tyres and screws. In the market, no part of a vehicle is a waste as the traders make money from unusable vehicles.

Several people were seen with chisels, hammers, screw drivers, spanners and other tools either working on a car or carrying the metals to a scale. At the Kugbo scrap workshop, no hand is idle and dismantling vehicles is the idea behind it. 

The chairman of the scrap dealers, Musa Ibrahim, said, “In this business we depend on condemned properties such as iron, aluminum and other parts of a vehicle. Nothing is a waste.”

While they boast about the legitimacy of their job, they expressed worry that residents usually mistake them for scavengers. 

They regretted that despite their legitimate business, residents still take them for scavengers and criminals. 

Located inside the Kugbo mechanic village, the scrap dealers do not only contend with misconceptions of the residents about them, security operatives are always on their trail due to alleged misdoings. 

Basir Ibrahim, who has been in the business for more than 15 years, said taking them for scavengers dent their image.

 He said, “We are not baban bola, we have money to buy vehicles and we do not have time for trouble or katakata.”

He, however, said the only similarity between the dealers and the scavengers at the market was the challenge of communicating well in English language.

Most of the traders, according to him, cannot communicate well in English language as such they seem to be in trouble most times. He said such issues occur not because they were violent or wicked but rather lacked good communication skills to relate well with the residents.   

“We are different. We don’t walk around picking things and we are usually called upon from where we sit,” he said.

 He said the dealers are serious minded and wary of any wrong doings as regards the business. He said in most cases, owners of the faulty vehicles call them for an inspection where they also discuss the price, and if they agree on a price, the vehicle would be towed to their workshop. 

But he said they would not pay until original copies of the vehicles were presented to them in order to check the activities of thieves and miscreants. 

 He said there are documents for all the dismembered vehicles to arm them for any unforeseen circumstance. 

“We don’t buy a vehicle that is without a license, we follow you to your house to see your house and we don’t buy from anybody that brings it here,” Ibrahim said, while explaining the procedure the traders follow to ensure they don’t run afoul of the law. 

The chairman of the dealers said despite this measure, security operatives sometimes come after them. 

“I have not bought a stolen vehicle,”  Musa Ibrahim who also been in the business for 15 years said.

“We have an association and we have rules. Before we buy any car we must see the original documents and our union will verify it before permitting us to buy such vehicles,” he said. 

He said the association also investigates its members for any wrong doing, and if found guilty, such a member would either be suspended or dismissed and should the punishment be beyond the association, they hand the case to the police. 

Ibrahim said many of the dealers were cool headed contrary to wide spread speculations about their activities. 

“Many don’t use drugs, they are responsible people with families,” he said. 

Ibrahim who said he had more than six employees in his workshop assured that he doesn’t employ people of questionable character. 

“People judge us from afar, we are good people,” he said. 

While Ibrahim takes pride in the character of the dealers, Bilyaminu, who specialises in vehicle’s head lights, seat belts and plastic jars, left animal butchering at abattoirs for the business five years ago and since then he has not looked back. 

While Ibrahim sells his wares to manufacturing companies in Kano, Kaduna and Lagos, Bilyaminu only sell on demand. 

Due to the nature of the items, he said mechanical engineers patronise him. He said his experience at abattoirs has helped in ‘butchering’ vehicles as such he does not want to slow down.

He charges N2,000 to ‘butcher’ a car to pieces saying he earns more apart from selling plastics and other wares. 

Another dealer who specialises in selling foot mats said the money they make from the business is what they use to carter for themselves. 

The dealer who would not want to be mentioned said he just collected N300 for selling two pieces of foot mats, 

“And the money finished immediately I collected it, because I needed to eat and settle others too,” he said.

Ibrahim said it takes few hours to ‘butcher’ a car.  

“Mechanics loose the engine, vulcanizers remove the tyres, while there are people that remove other parts of the vehicle,” he said. 

He said there is already a market for the pieces of the vehicle due to the proximity of mechanics and that people come from distance places to buy some motor parts from their workshops.  

Ibrahim said the traders usually buy the vehicles from their owners especially cars that were involved in an accident and are beyond repair or some cars that are faulty. 

He said after dismantling the vehicles, they sometimes make between N10, 000 and N15, 000 profits, which he said helps in meeting their needs.