The dwindling fortunes of Jos mechanic village

From the beginning of Mile 7 Zaria road, Jos, the popular location of the expansive mechanic village, one comes in contact with all sorts of artisans each specialised in one or two aspects of body as well as internal works of an articulated vehicle or tanker. Right at the main entrance of the garage, dealers […]

From the beginning of Mile 7 Zaria road, Jos, the popular location of the expansive mechanic village, one comes in contact with all sorts of artisans each specialised in one or two aspects of body as well as internal works of an articulated vehicle or tanker.

Right at the main entrance of the garage, dealers of all sorts of spear parts, electricians, traders, mechanics, etc are seen hovering around and pursuing one thing or the other – they are just busy. As one moves deeper into the garage, a number of welders and craftsmen who meticulously but creatively construct the bodies of trucks are seen busy in the art. What becomes obvious in the tricks of the garage is that there is simply a division of labour among the workers in the mechanic village.

It is right to say that with the N1.3 or N1.4 million one could easily get a bucket attached to the rear of his trailer, it will only take the time and efforts of four employees of a garage with two or three apprentices to help out within two weeks or a month, depending on the nature of electric power. About the same amount of money with a similar capacity and manpower will take to also make a tank.

Once a contract is secured for the construction of a bucket, clear cut division of labour comes to full gear as electricians, mechanics, painters and craftsmen work hand-in-hand to produce quality and durable metal works.

A visit to the garage which once existed at Dilimi area of Jos before it was moved to the present location over 30 years ago, will expose one to different irritating sounds. The numerous kling! kling! kling! sound of iron hitting metal and the buzzing sound and sparkly light that comes out from the welding machine may be an irritating sound for anyone visiting the place for the first time, but for the workers, it is the sound of the day’s pay check as money only comes when there is work to be done.

Though the dwindling customer base and market economy of the garage is pretty obvious when compared to the past, the reputation of the garage as one of the country’s best is still very much cherished and guarded jealously. “We are the trainers. We train other people and when we graduate them, they go to other states to open their garages, but the difference is always clear, because Jos is the mother of everywhere in the north as far as this business is concerned,” said Alhaji Aliyu Sarki Mohammed, Chairman of the Association of Technicians and Motor Part Dealers, Mile 7 Zaria road, Jos.

You could simply call them mathematicians as Alhaji Aliyu rightly said “the work we do requires a lot of calculation, it is simply mathematic, because it needs accuracy in terms of cutting.”

Aliyu’s garage specializes in the construction of ‘truck buckets’ or in simply lay man’s terms the large enclosed container attached to a trailer used in carrying goods. These buckets are constructed in various categories ranging from the 12 tyres also known as the shorter buckets and the trailer buckets which are much bigger.  “With electricity it takes us about a week to construct a 12-tyre bucket, but due to lack of electricity, it takes us about a month to construct the bucket. When you put about four employees together with three apprentices, the job will be very successful.”

Starting such a business does not come easy or cheap as Musa Nana, who specializes in the constructing petrol or water tanks, said. He said made a lot of sacrifices when he started his own business about two years ago after graduating from apprenticeship. Nana added that he has had to sell his house and car to raise the capital for the business.

“I injected about N5 million to start this business, but presently I am an employer of over 40 people including apprentices. Some people ask for payment before they take apprentices, but I have never collected a penny from anyone, because I know the condition of people in this country. Some people want their kids to have a better future yet they don’t have the money,” says Nana.

Even though Nana is now smiling to the bank, he says it could be much easier if “we can get power supply. Power is a major drawback in this business which is why it takes about a month to construct a tank which would have been done in about a week or maximum two.”

With a renowned reputation as one of the best in the country, Alhaji Aliyu says   “most of the jobs we do are not from Jos and this is because most of our customers come from Kaduna, Kano, Maiduguri, Gombe, Bauchi, among other places. Due to the crises, most of them are no longer coming. so we now manage ourselves with the local customers and that has greatly affected the volume of work we do as well as the demand. Most of them are afraid of coming due to these crises. In the past you will find us constructing five to six buckets at a time and 60 to 70 per cent of the work comes from outside Plateau state.”

“Depending on the kind of truck bucket  a client  may want, constructing a bucket will require what is known as the U-channels bought according to the quantity needed, angle irons, the rods as well as the sheet that will cover the structure or skeleton of the body after the construction. Other chemicals are the electrodes, oxygen gas and carbides. We also use filing machines for cutting the sheets, because accuracy is paramount in cutting,” said Alhaji Aliyu. He said constructing a 40-ton tank would cost about N1.4 million with materials such as plates, oxygen and carbide, filling machines and cutting stones.

According to Alhaji Aliyu, “it is a matter of division of labour and the volume of the job. An apprentice will learn faster if the volume of the job is high. We try to teach them the tools and how to handle them first then how to specialize in the use of the welding machines; you know the light is very dangerous to the eye. We also teach them how to measure and then how to go about the job generally and if an apprentice succeeds in that, then he learns how to construct a bucket. Learning this will take a long period of time until he specialises in it, with that, we test him by giving him a job to do and if he accomplishes its successfully, we graduate him and certify him and in most cases we employ him if he wants to work with us. You know it is difficult for a graduate to open his own garage without capital, so instead of leaving him with the papers we employ him.”

With about 30employees and apprentices in his garage, Alhaji Ali started learning the job as an apprentice when his parents will send him to a garage to learn the skills during vocations. He expressed joy at the rate of young boys who are now showing interest in the job “you can see how these young boys are filling trailers to come here and learn. When we moved here from Dillimi, we were basically about50 or 60, we were countable but I can tell you now that the registered members of our association working here are about 6,000 and the apprentices are more than us. So the number is appreciating and we feel proud to be contributing to the reduction of youth restiveness by this process of empowerment through skill acquisition.”

However, he added that their major problem apart from the issue of power is a few basic amenities like water and a clinic. “We are far away from town and since this is a construction site there are bound to be issues associated with injury and the likes so we need government to come to our aid by constructing a mini clinic since we are tax payers and we generate a lot of revenue for the state government,” he added.