By Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi
The increasing economic hardship, starvation and hunger in Nigeria have resulted in an upsurge of beggars and hawkers in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital, in recent times.
TPCN investigation reveals that some of these beggars and hawkers have relocated to Port Harcourt from different states in Nigeria to hustle for their daily bread, given the harsh economic situation in the country.
TPCN gathered that many mature people, as well as elders, have now taken to hawking and begging in order to survive.
While the beggars, some of who dress and look responsible, are virtually everywhere in Port Harcourt, the hawkers are usually seen on major roads, junctions and checkpoints, trying to sell their various goods.
When asked why they decided to engage in begging and hawking, most of them said the economic situation in the country, high cost of living and increasing rate of hunger, drove them into it.
One of the beggars, a well-built man in his late 50s, told TPCN on Wednesday (December 2, 2020), at Hospital Road, Port Harcourt, that he started begging as a last resort to survive, after he lost his job early this year.
The man explained in Nigerian English: “Bros, as you see me now, I never eat today; my belle dey bite me. I no dey beg before but na since I lost my job early this year I begin beg. I dey do security work for one company like that at Trans Amadi. But as the corona virus start, the company come send everybody away. Infact, make I no lie to you, the company fold. They say them go call us back after corona but uptill now we never hear from them.”
On why he thinks begging is the only way for him to survive, he said: “No be say na wetin I wan do forever. If I get something I go do to help myself, I go do am now. If to say the company pay us something as we dey go, I for dey do something now, even if to sell OK (abbreviation for ‘Okrika,’ a code name for second hand cloths in Nigeria).”
TPCN further learnt that some beggars stand at popular junctions such as Education Bus Stop, Mile 1, Garrison Junction, Rumuola Junction, Location Junction and Agip Junction, under the guise of waiting for commercial vehicles as passengers, just to beg. People will not know that they are beggars until they get close to them. It is when somebody gets close to them that they beg the person for assistance, in a very low voice, to avoid being noticed.
In most cases, they come up with one pathetic story or the other, just to get the sympathy of the person they are begging money from. Either they claim that they are stranded or that they do not have enough money to get to their destination, which is usually a far distance like an outskirt of Port Harcourt, a different local government area in the state or a city in a neighbouring state, usually Aba or Owerri.
TPCN’s investigation also showed that most hawkers come in from Aba, the commercial city of Abia State, to hawk their goods in Port Harcourt while some find a place to squat and go out every day to hawk.
Items like Gala, soft drinks, bread, doughnuts, sachet and bottled water, egg, cashew nuts, motor screen wipers and electronic products are some of the major items hawked on Port Harcourt Roads. Major hawkers of these items are Ibos, Akwa Ibomites, a few Middle Belters and some Togolese and Benin Republic migrants.
Other major items hawked are bitter kolas, kola nuts, confectionaries, wrist watches and lace materials. TPCN’s checks showed that Hausa boys are the major hawkers of these products.
Indigenes of Rivers State, checks further showed, do not engage in hawking. Also, Yoruba boys, TPCN investigations revealed, do not like hawking. But Yoruba ladies are the major hawkers of Agidi – a local delicacy made from corn (both jollof and white with stew) and a popular liquid herbal medicine called Agbo while Hausa girls majorly hawk Zobo, Kunu and Tiger nut drinks which are all popular among Nigerians.
TPCN investigations further revealed that another growing trend in the hustling sector is the hawking of pepper soup with either white rice or cooked yam. This fast growing business is dominated by Akwa Ibom men, believed to be the best cooks in Nigeria. The least they sell a plate of pepper soup is N100, with a piece of meat and a piece of cooked yam. If it is with white rice, the least is N150 per plate.
A pepper soup hawker, Ufot, told TPCN on Wednesday that since he started the business, his life has changed. He explained: “I’m a graduate but you know that there is no job in Nigeria. Before I started this business, my family was almost dying of hunger. I could not feed my family. I was doing Okada business until Amaechi (former governor of Rivers State) banned it in Port Harcourt. I used the little money I saved to start a trade for my wife. But it could not sustain us because our children were in school. My wife will pay our children’s school fees and house rent from that small business and nothing would remain again. So one day I decided to use my talent to help myself. In my family, everybody knows how to cook. I have cooked for somebody before. Then, one day, I borrowed money from my friend and used it to start this pepper soup and yam business. When people ate it, they liked it. Since that time – two years now – there’s no day I don’t sell all my pepper soup. To tell you the truth, my family is eating well now. I thank God for giving me that wisdom and strength to do this business.”
