In Potiskum town, one of the cosmopolitan towns of Yobe state, trailer transport business thrives, as residents – men and women – struggle to lead, by out numbering the fleet of one another.
Haulage, according to some investors, is a lucrative business, which started decades ago by famous merchants and big time -grains and livestock- farmers in the town.
As time goes by, death and old age befell these business originators, like late Alhaji Barau Potiskum, Alhaji Hamza Dan Agalam, Alhaji Babayo Dan Soja, Alhaji Yusuf Maidabino, Alhaji Hassan Bogocho among others.
“Their heirs, drivers and other wealthy individuals began to scramble for spaces in the business, and this is where we are today,” said the Chairman, National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Yobe state chapter, Alhaji Danjuma Barada.
The chairman recalled that, initially, the merchants were buying the trucks purposely to transport their agricultural products within Nigeria and across to neighbouring countries such as Niger, Cameroon and Chad.
“They later saw the need to tap into the opportunity of haulage business. As at then, Potiskum used to have groundnut pyramid and it has one of the largest cattle market in West Africa.
“Over time, the merchants realised how lucrative the haulage business was, and many of them gave in to it. As we are talking now, most of their children, great-grandchildren and drivers are still competing in the business,” he said.
He said, it will be difficult to say exactly the number of trailers owned by people in the town, precision but, the least number of trailers owned by people in the town are over 700.
“I can comfortably say that we have over 700 trailers in this town because we have individuals with fleets of 50, 30, 40, 20 and those with the least have five.
“In fact, the number of trailers one owns always determines his wealth and that of his immediate family. Because, apart from individuals, many wealthy families are into this business.
“I know over 30 people that have fleets of between 30 to 50 trailers here, and I lost count of those having 1 – 10 because they are too many. So, to even mention that we have 700 trailer in town is an underestimation,” he said.
He observed that more than two-third of the town’s population rely on haulage business as their means of livelihood.
“Look everywhere and see, apart from the trailer owners, drivers, spare drivers and their boys, we have mechanics, spare part sellers, penal beaters and other apprentice who depend on our trailers for livelihood,” he said.
The chairman, who owns 15 trailers, said they were first to implement N30,000 recently approved minimum wage on their drivers with arrears.
He said, on every trailer, they employed a driver, a spare driver and two assistants. The drivers also collect N30,000 allowances per trip and N40,000 accident-free bonus every year.
On women participation in the business, Barada said he is not aware of any woman controlling trailer business, unless by proxy but he knows somewho construct trunks (body) and lease it out to those who bought the truck but cannot afford the body.
The chairman lamented that the influx of more investors into the business coupled with the low patronage by dealers at Potiskum cattle market – one of the largest in West Africa – is negatively affecting the business.
He said with the initiative of Governor Mai Mala Buni to resuscitate the flour mills, aluminium sheets company, Dafarga spring water and other state-owned moribund industries, their business will get a boost and increase their revenue.
He commended Governor Mai Mala Buni for his effort to build a trailer park for them, which he said will benefit the state.
“It will generate lot of revenue for the state and would help night travellers with secure accommodation, car repairers and food at anytime of the day,” he said.
Alhaji Hassan Fara-Fara (Mal-trab of Potiskum ), who owns one of the biggest haulage companies, said his company had 60 open tanker-trucks and over 20 open body trailers and hundreds of employees.
He also commended the governor for establishing the modern trailer park, saying it will reduce congestion, because many owners that do not have packing area usually park on the streets and main roads.
“We have over 1000 trailers in Potiskum, and hundreds of thousands of people feeding from the business, that is why everyone is happy with the development,” he said.
Alhaji Hassan Abdullahi, (Baffa), another leading businessman, said he was doing well in other businesses before he joined the haulage business15 years back.
“It’s the only business that Potiskum businessmen so much believed in, that is why I switched over because everyone here, be it cattle dealers, grain dealers or farmers consider trailer business as safe and comfortable. Everyone is competing to own them and the number of trailers one owns usually measures one’s wealth,” he said.
Our correspondent, who went round the town, saw over 10 trailer body fabrication workshops that provided jobs to thousands of people.
Engineer Salisu, one of the fabricators, told Kanem Trust, that there are 870 metal fabricators in Potiskum. He said based on a January 15, 2016 census conducted by the Fabricators Association, 120 were trailer body fabricating factories, which according to him, have a workforce of over 15,000.
Bako said government’s support would help them in doing more and modernising their trade to curtail the drain of Nigerian talents to other countries.
“We have the capacity to meet local demand and end reliance on foreign trailer body supplies. I started this occupation as far back as 1973, but since then government has never given me loan or any form of assistance.
”With government support, we can contain some reasonable portion of youth restiveness in Yobe and make this trade a major economic base for the state. I pioneered the trade here, trained all these people and, today half of the town’s population are benefitting from my initiative directly or indirectly. Cargo transporters, spare parts sellers, food vendors and many others are benefiting from it.”
He, however, complained that the fabrication materials were costly.
“The materials we use are mostly imported from overseas and we buy them from Lagos, this makes them very expensive. We are aware that Nigerian steel is among the finest in the world, but the steel rolling mills in Ajaokuta, Katsina and Jos have become decrepit.
“A locally made trailerbody is now sold for between N2.5 million and N2.7 million, depending on the quality of material used, and the amount of diesel we burnt. A price increase occurred recently when the importation of goods became more expensive due to rise in exchange rate,” Bako said.
He also said that the trailer business has trained and exposed a lot of people to other businesses. It has also created opportunity for the craftsmen to venture into construction of wheel chairs for the physically challenged and iron doors, among others.
