Bread hawkers

Agege’ bread, named after a Lagos suburb, has over the decades grown into an obsession for many residents and a well-known brand across the country. Affordable, filling and ubiquitous; selling this product has thus become a source of employment for many young and not-so-young people seeking to make a few bucks. Sadly, the high rate of joblessness in Nigeria usually means this venture ends up being more long term than short term.

Rofayat Alade, 18 years old, sells Agege bread six days a week. Set on a wide, wooden tray, which she balances on her head, she treks for kilometres, as far as her legs can carry her to sell her bread. “The stress dey plenty’’ speaking in Pidgin-English she said with a sigh.

She explains that she earns a daily profit of N300 ($1.74), which she is saving towards paying for school supplies when she resumes in September for her final year of secondary school. She hopes to someday attend university.

On the prompting of her mother, Rofayat and two friends, travelled to Lagos from Osun state in July to find summer jobs.  The fifth of six siblings, Rofayat received N4, 560 ($26) from her brother in-law as capital to buy her first stock of Agege bread and the wooden tray she uses to sell. She also had some money left over to purchase some butter, mayonnaise and small nylon bags to package the bread for customers.

This ambitious young lady, who has been able to thrive in an environment where others have failed, has suddenly lost her mother.

This sad development may pose a temporary setback on her business.

 This article is dedicated to Mrs. Alade who just passed on a couple of days ago…

Oluwaseyi Lawal