What alternative do they have?
The article was initially published in the Daily Trust (Abuja) but can be found on line via All Africa. com
Nigeria: I Sell Cigarettes to Survive–Teen - AllAfrica
July 23, 2008
Jaafar Jaafar
An encounter with young teen Naziru Mamuda, a cigarette seller who could not be sure of his age among a clique of friends' gives insight into his unsual life.
The sight of young children under the ages of ten and above, selling cigarettes at gatherings is a common phenomenon for stadium, cinema and theatre goers in Kano State.
Naziru Mamuda is one of these minors selling cigarettes anytime there is a football match. He moves around the teeming football spectators with several packs of cigarettes and a box of matches in search of customers. While the spectators were busy watching the match, the young boy was busy making brisk business.
Naziru, a resident of Gawuna area in Brigade, Kano, wears an oversize shirt that reveals greater part of his body for lack of buttons. Although his short knickers did not have drawstrings or belt, it hangs loyally on his lean waist. A pair of flip-plop he was wearing neither have matching colours nor size. Naziru cuts the image of a wretched beggar.
"I am not an almajiri, my mother is alive and I live with her," he challenged Weekly Trust's assertion that he was a beggar.
Naziru's wish everyday is for a big tourney to hold in Kano. Once there is any football match at Kano Pillars Stadium or Sani Abacha Stadium; basketball at Kofar Nassarawa courts; polo tournament at Kano Polo Ground or Race Course; traditional wrestling at Kings Garden or Goron Dutse; Naziru and his group of youngsters will certainly storm the place long before kick-off.
Naziru and his type always bypass box office and they arrive early at the venue of the tournament to enable them to sneak into the arena unnoticed. Naziru and other scamps wander around, play and puff their cigarettes daringly before the crowd comes in to fill the venue.
But if there's no any game holding in the ancient metropolis, Naziru, a class 5 student of Gawuna Primary School, becomes a porter. He goes to market or bus stations and joins the swarm of almajirai to ferry the luggage of alighting passengers on their heads. "Without struggling to earn a living, I may end up spending the day with empty stomach. So, if there is no game holding, I become a porter," he said.
But as Naziru snaked through the crowds of spectators at the final match of Emir of Katsina polo tournament, held in Kano last weekend, people stopped him every now and then to buy the cigarettes of their choice. When they paid him, he tucked the money into his pocket and goes into another direction for a willing customer.
When Weekly Trust sought his attention for a brief chat, he has already sold Benson and Rothmans soon as the match started. "You know today is the final match of the polo tournament and no sooner had the match started, than I sold a few packs. People so much like Benson and what only remains now is Aspen and Super [King]," said Naziru.
Asked why he did not purchase enough packs of the cigarettes, he revealed that he has no money to buy, saying they were only given a few packs to sell. "I don't have my capital, we normally collect the packs from a retailer in our area and he doesn't give more than five packs per child," explains Naziru, adding that since one of them ran away with about 10 packets, their master reduced the number of packets to five.
Naziru's father is dead and since his father's death, his mother was not employed nor did she marry another person. He told Weekly Trust that his mother was at a time a housemaid of a rich family before she lost the job recently, adding that he goes to school when he wishes, as his mother even prefers the business to school. Asked whether he goes to Islamic school, the young boy responded in the negative.
He said he helps his mother and his younger siblings, adding that out of the meagre he gets daily from his business, he helps his mother in many ways. He said in a day he makes about N100 or so, depending on the number of packs he sold.
Probably thinking this reporter is a security agent, Naziru, who looks like a 13-year old, said he quits smoking only two weeks ago and would not go back to it. He explained that it is smoking cigarette that is sinful but not selling it.
Another teenage cigarette seller, Abubakar, 13, said apart from the ends of the cigarettes he picks when people throw away, he smokes about five sticks in a day. While explaining the taste of the cigarette, Abubakar, who is more audacious than Naziru said he preferred Aspen to any other cigarette because of its 'powerful taste'. "I like Aspen because of its strength," he said.
Abubakar said they collected a pack of Benson at N180, Rothmans also at N180, Aspen at N90, while Super King at also N90. "If we collect Benson at N180, we earn a profit of N20 when we sell it."
Source: AllAfrica
July 23, 2008
Jaafar Jaafar
An encounter with young teen Naziru Mamuda, a cigarette seller who could not be sure of his age among a clique of friends' gives insight into his unsual life.
The sight of young children under the ages of ten and above, selling cigarettes at gatherings is a common phenomenon for stadium, cinema and theatre goers in Kano State.
Naziru Mamuda is one of these minors selling cigarettes anytime there is a football match. He moves around the teeming football spectators with several packs of cigarettes and a box of matches in search of customers. While the spectators were busy watching the match, the young boy was busy making brisk business.
Naziru, a resident of Gawuna area in Brigade, Kano, wears an oversize shirt that reveals greater part of his body for lack of buttons. Although his short knickers did not have drawstrings or belt, it hangs loyally on his lean waist. A pair of flip-plop he was wearing neither have matching colours nor size. Naziru cuts the image of a wretched beggar.
"I am not an almajiri, my mother is alive and I live with her," he challenged Weekly Trust's assertion that he was a beggar.
Naziru's wish everyday is for a big tourney to hold in Kano. Once there is any football match at Kano Pillars Stadium or Sani Abacha Stadium; basketball at Kofar Nassarawa courts; polo tournament at Kano Polo Ground or Race Course; traditional wrestling at Kings Garden or Goron Dutse; Naziru and his group of youngsters will certainly storm the place long before kick-off.
Naziru and his type always bypass box office and they arrive early at the venue of the tournament to enable them to sneak into the arena unnoticed. Naziru and other scamps wander around, play and puff their cigarettes daringly before the crowd comes in to fill the venue.
But if there's no any game holding in the ancient metropolis, Naziru, a class 5 student of Gawuna Primary School, becomes a porter. He goes to market or bus stations and joins the swarm of almajirai to ferry the luggage of alighting passengers on their heads. "Without struggling to earn a living, I may end up spending the day with empty stomach. So, if there is no game holding, I become a porter," he said.
But as Naziru snaked through the crowds of spectators at the final match of Emir of Katsina polo tournament, held in Kano last weekend, people stopped him every now and then to buy the cigarettes of their choice. When they paid him, he tucked the money into his pocket and goes into another direction for a willing customer.
When Weekly Trust sought his attention for a brief chat, he has already sold Benson and Rothmans soon as the match started. "You know today is the final match of the polo tournament and no sooner had the match started, than I sold a few packs. People so much like Benson and what only remains now is Aspen and Super [King]," said Naziru.
Asked why he did not purchase enough packs of the cigarettes, he revealed that he has no money to buy, saying they were only given a few packs to sell. "I don't have my capital, we normally collect the packs from a retailer in our area and he doesn't give more than five packs per child," explains Naziru, adding that since one of them ran away with about 10 packets, their master reduced the number of packets to five.
Naziru's father is dead and since his father's death, his mother was not employed nor did she marry another person. He told Weekly Trust that his mother was at a time a housemaid of a rich family before she lost the job recently, adding that he goes to school when he wishes, as his mother even prefers the business to school. Asked whether he goes to Islamic school, the young boy responded in the negative.
He said he helps his mother and his younger siblings, adding that out of the meagre he gets daily from his business, he helps his mother in many ways. He said in a day he makes about N100 or so, depending on the number of packs he sold.
Probably thinking this reporter is a security agent, Naziru, who looks like a 13-year old, said he quits smoking only two weeks ago and would not go back to it. He explained that it is smoking cigarette that is sinful but not selling it.
Another teenage cigarette seller, Abubakar, 13, said apart from the ends of the cigarettes he picks when people throw away, he smokes about five sticks in a day. While explaining the taste of the cigarette, Abubakar, who is more audacious than Naziru said he preferred Aspen to any other cigarette because of its 'powerful taste'. "I like Aspen because of its strength," he said.
Abubakar said they collected a pack of Benson at N180, Rothmans also at N180, Aspen at N90, while Super King at also N90. "If we collect Benson at N180, we earn a profit of N20 when we sell it."
Source: AllAfrica
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