Physically challenged sweeper says: ‘Service to humanity is what I enjoy doing’

“No doubt, being a physically challenged person should not limit one from attaining one’s goal in life, once one is focused and pragmatic.” This was how Samson Omosanya, a cripple, began to narrate his life experiences and what brought him to the top of the pedestrian bridge at Anthony, along the popular Ikorodu road in […]

“No doubt, being a physically challenged person should not limit one from attaining one’s goal in life, once one is focused and pragmatic.”
This was how Samson Omosanya, a cripple, began to narrate his life experiences and what brought him to the top of the pedestrian bridge at Anthony, along the popular Ikorodu road in Lagos, which he regularly sweeps and which had brought him recognition and reward from the state government.
Omosanya, who hailed from Ilesha, Osun State, said his intention and priority when he first arrived in Lagos was to be selling electronic products but nature did not allow him.
He narrated how he became a cripple: “I began my life and grew up normally until about 17 years ago when I eventually lost both legs to polio disease. It was a terrible experience because my parents really tried their best to get me back on my feet but I could not stand on my feet again. That was how I became paralysed till date.”
Omosanya who was born in 1987, attended Ayeso Primary School in Ilesha, but he could not further his education due to his condition.
“Some friends brought me to Lagos from Ilesha in 2003, and their plan was for me to be begging on the streets of Lagos. When I got wind of their plan, I left them and moved to Anthony where I started sweeping the pedestrian bridge. That was what I was doing until the Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LAWMA) employed many of us to be sweeping Lagos bridges as members of their staff,” he recalled.
“I have been sweeping the Anthony bridge since 2003 all by myself, before the government engaged me through LAWMA in 2011. I chose to be sweeping the pedestrian bridge in Lagos than begging people for money. I decided to be useful in my own little way by sweeping the bridge, and people appreciate my work by giving me money when they are passing.
“It is better for me to work than asking for alms. I feel good whenever I do this; when people give me money, I accept. It makes me feel good that I am doing something for the society in return, even though what I am doing may be too small.”
He said that the state government gave him a uniform which he usually puts on while sweeping so that people would not harass him in the course of doing the job, adding that he is paid monthly for the job by the state government.
Presently a father of two, a boy and a girl, the cripple sweeper said his wife ran away because of his condition over time. “My first child is 13 years old. My children stay with their mother in Ilesha. At end of every month, I give them money to feed and pay for their school fees, from the little I earn as a sweeper. I also travel every two months to check on my father in Ilesha, my mother died in the course of finding solution to my polio problem then,” he said.
Omosanya added that he passionately hates begging for alms and wishes he could be fortunate to get a helper who would assist him to set up a small business. “I love buying and selling and I can do any business. I love electronic products,” he said.
He expressed gratitude to the Lagos State government and LAWMA for providing him with the opportunity to work and earn a living in spite of his condition, while appealing to the government or any interested individual to assist him with a soft loan to start a business.
“Although I did not learn any trade or skill due to my physical challenges, I know how to sell pressing iron, television, radio and electrical accessories. If government or anyone can set me up, I will stop this sweeping work that I am doing and face the business,” he stated, adding, “I am appealing for assistance to start a business so as to cater for my family because my monthly income cannot take care of the needs of my family.”