We pack dirt to feed, pay school fees –Physically challenged bridge sweepers
JUNE 1, 2013
A physically challenged bridge sweeper
A cosmopolitan state has its challenges, one of which is keeping the streets, roads and pedestrian bridges clean.
In a state like Lagos, there is still a lot of negative attitude in terms of the disposal of waste.
This is why pedestrian bridges, walkways, major roads and streets are strewn with waste dropped by passersby and motorists.
One major sight on pedestrian bridges in Lagos is the presence of physically challenged men clearing dirt from the walkways at intervals.
In the scorching sun or while it is raining, they can be found sweeping pedestrian bridges dotting major roads in the state.
While sweeping, they pick alms dropped by sympathetic passersby. Some years ago, the Lagos Waste Management Authority absorbed them into its system and began paying them stipends.
Some of the sweepers, who shared their stories with Saturday PUNCH, gave tales of woe.
At Oshodi Bus Stop, a few of these disabled sweepers can be seen crawling on their buttocks from one end of the long pedestrian bridges to another, armed with short brooms as hundreds of feet pound the aisles.
Olayemi Ayoola told Saturday PUNCH he had been a bridge sweeper for three years.
“I hardly feel it anymore when the sun comes out. I see people rushing past me in the hot sun and feel uncomfortable. I just laugh because I don’t feel it anymore. I’m used to it,” the 35-year-old father of four said.
When our correspondent spoke with him, it was 7.30 am. He obviously lived nearby to have been able get to the bridge that early.
But surprisingly, Ayoola said, “I live in Sango (Ogun State). It is a long distance away. In order to get to this place as early as possible, I wake up before 5am and stay at the bus stop until I get a bus.
“Latest by 7am, I arrive here. I start work immediately. By 2pm, my work is done.”
He told our correspondent that all his children were in school and that the eldest was a Basic 7 pupil.
Ayoola is an amputee. His right leg is the only limb supporting him, apart from the walking stick he uses when he is done for the day and is going home.
Ayoola was not born with just one leg, as he told our correspondent that he had an accident.
He said, “In November 2005, I had an accident. I was a commercial bus driver at the time. I was doing well. I even owned the bus I was driving.
“The bus flipped over and my left leg was damaged. It had to be cut off. In 2010 when I realised that my family was suffering on account of my not being able to provide for them, I had to seek a way of putting food on the table, which was why I began sweeping bridges.”
While sweeping, Ayoola gets alms from magnanimous passersby. He said on a good day, he makes up to N1,000 in alms, most of which he saves for feeding and his children’s school expenses.
Ayoola holds just a primary school certificate but he has taken his fate in his hands and strives to provide for his family.
Like Ayoola, Shehu Mohammed has been sweeping bridges for three years also.
He lives at Alapere in Ketu area of Lagos.
Mohammed told Saturday PUNCH, “I leave home by 6am in order to resume work at 7am. I’m married and my children are quite happy that I can provide for them.
“I came to Lagos from Sokoto about five years ago. I was told there was plenty of work to do here and I could provide for my family. That was why I came to Lagos.”
The 32-year-old sweeper’s right arm is shrivelled. It is obvious that he sustained a nasty injury that rendered his arm useless.
“When I was eight, I was in our house in Sokoto when the building collapsed. One brick fell on my arm and I have not been able to use it since then.”
He too is married and has two children.
“I’m grateful to people in Lagos because I am able to send my children to school because of their alms. I make up to N1,500 per day sometimes,” he said.
Amisu Ibrahim, 36, is another sweeper from Katsina State.
He is also an amputee who got one of his legs cut off after a terrible road accident in Katsina in 2004.
He leaves his Agbado-Crossing home at 5am and crawls to a bus stop where he gets a ride to Oshodi.
Ibrahim did not conceal his joy when our correspondent asked how many children he had.
“I have three now. My wife just delivered our third child yesterday. I am very happy.”
Then he made a surprising announcement.
“I have two wives,” he said.
He told Saturday PUNCH one of his wives lives in his father’s house in Katsina while the second lives with him in Lagos.
Ibrahim told our correspondent that his two older children attend school and he keeps them happy with the money he made.
To affirm that, he said, “Walahi talahi, I’m not lying. I send my children to school. The money I make from alms here and the salary LAWMA pays me is what I use to send them to school.”
But Ibrahim’s expression changed suddenly.
He said, “If I tell you that I have not been paid in the last three months, you may not believe me but it’s true. I travelled for 10 days sometime ago, and because the man who supervises us came and did not see me at work, I was not paid.
“I’ve not been paid for three months since then. There is another man, a Yoruba man who sweeps the other side of the bridge. He is crippled but does not come to work every day, yet, he is paid regularly.
“I told the man that even if I’m not paid, I will continue to come here and do this work. The goodwill of people and God’s help will sustain me.”
Indeed, as he spoke, people passing by dropped money on his lap; N20, N50, N100. Ibrahim was happy.
“Sometimes, I get lucky and someone comes along and drops a N500 note. This kind of money greatly helps in paying my rent and the upkeep of my family. If I go home today with N800, the sum of N500 out of that goes to my wife. I keep the rest for transport,” he said.
On the pedestrian bridge at Anthony Bus Stop, 34-year-old Samson Onasanya, who has been sweeping the bridge for six years, told Saturday PUNCH he was happy doing so.
Onasanya said, “They give us alms but at least we don’t have to beg for them. People give us money in appreciation of what we do for the society.
“Just imagine what this bridge will look like in a day if we don’t sweep it. Look at the heap of refuse I’m already sweeping this morning. Tomorrow morning, there will be as much refuse again.
“I’m happy I am where I am because my family is happy. My children are happy because I am not a beggar. I work and provide for them.”
At Ketu Bus Stop, the busy pedestrian bridge owes it clean nature to Saheed Olayinka, 40.
Crawling on the his hand and buttocks as he uses his right hand to sweep the pedestrian bridge, he explained his daily routine to Saturday PUNCH.
“I leave Opebi where I live at 6am and get here before 7am. I work until 2pm and go home,” he said.
He goes about his work with gusto and words of appreciation as passersby drops alms at his feet.
The Ogun State-born cripple said he was introduced to the job by a friend and had never had any regret.
Olayinka said, “Even though some people look down on us as if we are not human beings, I’m happy with what I do. It can really be terrible sometimes. I use my hands to park faeces sometimes on this bridge just to keep it clean.
“Many who look down on us just don’t know the kind of work we are doing to the society. But we are also thankful to the government for giving us stipends. There are many beggars on the streets but at least ours is different. We are able to make our families happy.”
Olayinka’s skin, like other sweepers our correspondent encountered, looked blackened on account of the sun they are exposed to on the job.
“I don’t feel the sun much. No matter how intense the sun is, I don’t leave my work. If it starts raining, I simply spread my big umbrella and crawl under it until it subsides,” he said.
Olayinka, a father of four, said three of his children are in school.
Like the others, he is able to send them to school through the alms he gets from kind people and the stipend LAWMA pays him.
“I became crippled when I was still a child. I did not go beyond primary school level but I’m not sad at all about my situation. I’m happy I’m one of those who keep Lagos clean,” he said.
A physically challenged sweeper, who identified himself as Saheed, was the one who introduced Olayinka to the job. He shuttles between Ketu and the pedestrian bridge at Ikeja.
The state government pays these bridge sweepers N10,000 monthly but even though this is does not seem to be adequate for their upkeep, they are full of praises for LAWMA.
The agency’s spokesperson, Shade Kadiri, said there was no immediate plan to increase the monthly stipend of the sweepers.
She said, “The idea of paying the stipend is to take them off begging and put them to use in service to the community. I cannot rule out an increment of the stipend though.
“The idea is that because they are physically challenged does not mean they cannot earn a decent living. Part of the welfare package we have put in place for them include medical treatment. They also have access to loans which we deduct at very small amounts. You have to understand that some of them already have a vocation before getting involved in sweeping bridges.
“Our hope is that after the few hours of sweeping, they can go back to the vocation which the loans are supposed to enhance.”
When our correspondent took up the case of Ibrahim who complained that he had not been paid for three months with her, she promised that the matter would be looked into as soon as possible.
However, one thing our correspondent noticed about these physically challenged sweepers is that they were upbeat about their situation. Talking to them was a great experience as they showed no sign of depression.
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