Alirat Osunbayo is 54 years old. But under
the blazing tropical sun at Quarry Road,
Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, she
looks much older.
Her sweat-drenched slim and seemingly
fragile frame, however, belies the physical
strength she displays as she steadily chips
away at the huge stump of rock before her,
reducing it to small pebbles.
Osunbayo has been breaking huge rocks
for almost 20 years. She is not alone in
this rather strenuous way to eke out a
living. She is one of the several women
who struggle to earn their livelihood from
cutting rocks into small stones at the
quarry site located at the Abeokuta North
Local Government area of the state. No
man was seen breaking rocks in the
different quarry sites our correspondent
visited for three days.
As she spoke with our correspondent in a
soft tone while massaging her chirped and
blister covered palms, Osunbayo smiled
ruefully and declared that that was the
only thing she knew how to do to keep
hunger away.
She said, “What else do you want me to
do? With this job, at least, I’m sure of
putting food on my table.”
Almost oblivious of the hot sun from which
she took shelter under a small mat hung
on a tripod; Osunbayo continued hitting
her crude hammer on rocks cutting them
into smaller pieces.
The ding-dong and hollow sounds of iron
connecting with rocks emanating from the
hordes of women bent laboriously over
their tasks filled the dust infused air of the
work site.
As the women constantly hemmed at the
huge pieces of rocks, one could see pain
and despair etched on their strong faces.
These are common sights at the no fewer
than three quarry sites scattered round the
Rock City of Abeokuta.
At the end of a day’s work which lasts for
not less than 10 excruciating hours under
the elements, the rocks which have been
reduced to pebbles are filled into head
pans and sold.
Each head pan, according to Sobayo and
her colleagues vary in size and quality.
They sell as low as N100 (less than $1)
and as high as N400 (about $2)
Sobayo said, “I work from morning to
dusk; I stop work around 6:30 or 7pm when
it’s dark and I can no longer see very well.
I do this every day, except on days I go to
the Lafenwa market to sell salt.”
[/media-credit] Women who make a living
crushing stones for N100 a day
The Lafenwa market is an old market in the
bowel of the Abeokuta North Local
Government Area of the state. It is opened
for business every other five days.
“My three children and I used to work at
the quarry when my husband died. We
were sure of taking home a substantial
amount of money. Now things are a bit
difficult, my children had to move to Lagos
to make ends meet. Luckily, I was able to
get this job. I’m sure of putting food on my
table. ”
One of the sites where the women work
had not always been in its present state.
Until two and a half years ago, it was a site
of a booming stone business patronised
by dust merchants all over the southwest
geo-political zone of the country.
But suddenly, according to Mrs. Yemisi
Fowowe who is a rock cutter and dealer,
the quarry was put up for sale. The rock
merchants shifted base and the place
became desolate. But a few stragglers
stayed behind.
The Commissioner for Information,Ogun
State, Yusuph Olaniyonu, told SUNDAY
PUNCH that he wasn’t aware of any
existing issue between the government
and rock dealers over the closure of the
quarry.
Hard work, small pay
“In a day, I try to break as many rocks into
smaller pebbles to fill four head pans. But
on days when I don’t feel strong enough, I
fill only two head pans. One head pan
fetches me N20. If I break four head pans, I
get paid N80 (50 US cents),” said Sobayo.
Just a short walk from Sobayo, Madam
Muyibatu Rasaki hit harder at her rock with
full concentration.
For 65- year-old Rasaki, breaking four head
pans of stones is a ride in the park.
With sweat dripping down her face, Rasaki
said sometimes she would not eat until
she filled 40 head pans which would fetch
her N2,500 (about $14).
“I am so used to this job that whenever I’m
not at work, my body feels funny. I can’t
sit idle. I’ve been doing this job for more
than 20 years. I started when I got married.
This is the only skill I know and my
husband is dead. With the money I made
over time; I was able to buy myself a
commercial grinding machine,” she told
our correspondent.
For two hours in a stretch, Rasaki kept
breaking the mould of rocks before her;
she was so engrossed with the work that
she did not notice when one of her fingers
started bleeding until her attention was
called to it by our correspondent.
“Don’t worry my daughter, it’s just blood, I
didn’t even know I had a wound. I can’t
stop; I have to complete my target. I’ve lost
count of the number of times I broke a
finger or had a deep cut, it’s part of the
job,” she said.
For 65-year-old Madam Fowowe and her
45-year-old daughter, Modinatu Salami,
the stone breaking trade has become a
generational thing. Both mother and child
work on the site.
Just like Fowowe and Bola Mustapha,
Mama Salau is 60 years old and she breaks
20 big rocks which would fetch her N1,000.
Breaking the bigger stones requires more
strength, so why did Salau opt for this?
“I need more money,” she simply said.
Clad in a light blue iro and buba, Salau
tucked her wrapper in between her thighs
and began hitting the piece of rock into
shape with a hammer and akoro (sickle).
Salau’s inclination is different from most of
the women. She makes local grinding
stones which she sells for N500 while the
hand-made moulded grinding stone goes
for N1,000.
Salu said with a smile, “N1, 000 is a lot of
money for me. In the mornings I sell
cooked beans, but I don’t make much
money from it. I’ve been a quarry worker
for 10 years. This is where I get the money
I really live on.”
Asked how she fared in the trade, Salau
was reluctant to talk. She hesitated before
answering, “My body has become used to
pain. There are days when I get home and
my whole body is aching, but I can’t stop
this job, I need the money.”
Explaining the process of producing small
pebbles used for construction, the
Chairman Ifedodun Foundation Association
Quarry, Mr. Taiwo Mustapha said rocks are
blasted in the local way.
“A hole is drilled under the rock and timber
or tyres are used to ignite a fire in it. The
fire is left to burn in the rock. This helps to
soften it. This process could take two or
three days. Once the rock is soft enough, it
explodes.”
He explained that the process of the rock
blasting could be very dangerous and that
people and workers must stay away from
the site when it is being carried out.
“After the blast, the pieces of rocks are
then broken with a sledge hammer. The
parts are broken into sizes we call lump;
the lumps weigh between 100-1000kg.
These will then be broken into block
sizes.”
Mustapha said after this stage, the block
size rocks are broken into smaller sizes
called hard core.
“The last size of rock is granite. However,
hard core could be used for various
things. They are used for constructing the
floor of filling stations, storey buildings
and German floors. They could also be
used for walls,” he said.
Mustapha explained further that granite
stones are usually used at construction
sites and that they come in three quarter or
half-inch size.
“These granites when sieved produce what
we call ‘rice’ and quarry dust. They are
used in the construction of pillars, bore
holes and road tarring,” he added.
Mustapha noted that through these
processes, workers use their hands. He
said, “There is nothing a machine can do
that our hands can’t do, the only
difference is that the machine would be
faster.”
He continued, “Approximately 120 head
pans would fill a five-ton lorry. To fill a
truck, one would need 90 head pans. Each
head pan costs between N400 and N500.
Those who sell granites to construction
companies make about N20,000 on a truck
and N40,000 on lorries.”
Health challenges
With the strenuous nature, its hazards and
the absence of health insurance, they
constantly take pain killers to dull the pain
of the job.
“I take Paracetamol to ease the pains and
aches I have after each day’s work. It is the
cheapest drug we can afford. Whenever I
wake in the morning, my prayer is that
nothing terrible should happen to me at
work because I don’t have the money to
pay for hospital bills,” Salau told our
correspondent looking down at her hands
and feet which were covered with old and
fresh scars.
“Getting wounds on this job is normal, one
just has to make sure it isn’t a deep cut, if
not, one is in trouble,” she added.
Madam Fowowe who has been a quarry
worker for more than 10 years, said they
had no health insurance cover or policy.
“Who will cover us? We don’t have money
to waste on health insurance. It is those
who have eaten enough that do health
insurance. There is Paracetamol in the
market; I would rather buy N20 Paracetamol
than pay thousands of Naira to
somebody.”
Her daughter, Salami, who had also put
in10 years in the job, was ignorant of what
health insurance meant. And even after
listening to the benefits of health
insurance, she concluded: “It is a waste of
time.”
Speaking on the health challenges
associated with inhaling dust, a respiratory
chest physician, Dr. Cajetan Onyedum, said
the women were at risk of respiratory
diseases or even losing their sight should
the pebbles enter their eyes.
He said, “They are often prone to chronic,
obstructive airway diseases, occupational
asthma and the actual deposition of dust
in the substance of the lungs leading to
interstitial occupational lung diseases.
Some of these diseases could become very
serious attaining life threatening. Even
after they leave the job, their health may
not return become normal, however, It
depends on the duration of exposure and
the degree of the injury to lungs before
leaving the job.
“It’s advised that these women quit such
jobs early, it’s known that quitting early
will help in slowing the progression of the
damage to the lungs in these women.”
Why we employ women — Quarry owners
But why have these women chosen to do a
job that is energy sapping?
Mrs. Oriyomi Shittu who runs a quarry
business and also works as a stone cutter
explained: “Women are more committed
and focused. If they want to break rocks to
fill 50 head pans, they would do it, but
men get distracted. I don’t have any man
working for me. I don’t employ men, I
employ only women.”
Fowowe also added that woman have
proved to work harder at her quarry then
men. She added that hand- made gravels
are bigger and better than those made with
a crusher. A crusher is a machine designed
to reduce large rocks into smaller rocks,
gravel, or rock dust.
“Women don’t disappoint on the job. Also,
contractors prefer to buy hand-made
gravels,” she added.
Mrs. Olu Okuribido, a quarry business
owner corroborated this. She said, “I
employ women because they are faster and
more committed.”
Abandoned gold mine
SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that the quarry
business in the area started in the 1980s.
However, about two and a half years ago,
the major quarry site in Ogun State was
reportedly locked up by the Federal
Ministry of Works and sold to an estate
developer.
Okuribido said, “The place is now an
estate, but it has been left undeveloped for
two and a half years. The company that
bought the site hasn’t even cleared the
land. I think it is really unfair that the
government should displace poor families
to please a company. We didn’t do
anything wrong, we had been paying our
dues. The place used to be a beehive of
activities in the past.
“The last time we met with the Federal
Ministry of Works, I made the officials
know that there were so many families
feeding from the site and that teenagers
might resort to robbery if the jobs they did
here were taken away from them. The
government officials promised not to lock
up the place. But to my surprise, they still
went ahead to effect the closure.
“But I laugh at the government; they are
shooting themselves in the foot. So much
money is buried in that land,” she laughed.
The quarry industry is vital to the
economic and social well-being of every
nation, and should not be treated lightly,
experts say.
Professor Sheriffdeen Tella of the
Department of Economics, Olabisi
Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Ogun
State, pointed out that women still work in
quarry sites because they have no
alternatives.
He said, “Quarry is a strenuous job and
women who work there won’t add much
value to the economy. Their role, if
captured in the statistics of the economy
would be little. This is because they won’t
be able to crush as many rocks like men.
The bottom line is our economy is still
battling with unemployment and until this
is sorted out; we would still find women
doing such jobs.”
Tella, however, noted that there are other
jobs dominantly for men that women opt
for. These according to him include
engineering. He attributed this to the way
our economy has been structured.
He continued, “The majority of the women
working in quarry sites are breadwinners,
which isn’t something new though. When
men lose their jobs, the responsibility of
the home indirectly rests on women. I
wouldn’t expect them to be engaged in
such type of job except they are financially
pressed.
“On the other hand, government can’t
make this job illegal for women except it
wants to starve them to death. The way
forward is for government to provide
alternatives. Secondly, government must
care for the welfare of its citizens and most
especially the elderly.”
Similarly, a former Head, Department of
Economics, Prof. Abayomi Adebayo, said
the women might remain in a vicious cycle
of poverty because the money they make
would not take them far.
“There is a law that when one’s income is
low, one’s expenditure would be low. This
is applicable to these women. Except if
they receive some form of intervention
from the government, they may continue
doing this job for years.”
Adebayo, however, noted that some
women have resorted to such strenuous
jobs because that is what is readily
available for them.
“People commit themselves to activities
that are readily available in the area where
they are located to make ends meet. Some
of them are trying to survive even though
the job is uncomfortable and rigorous. The
condition is definitely pitiable. But for
somebody who doesn’t want to steal, they
have no choice. And for many of them who
are from lowly background, they are used
to hard labour and all kinds of difficult
condition,” he said.
Speaking in the importance of their trade,
Osunbayo said the job they do is critical to
the economy and needs government
intervention.
She said, “We are very important to
building, roads, etc. The next time gravels
are used to tile roads, people should take a
minute to appreciate the women that made
it possible.”

This one na novel o

#myCharityComment.
...

Pics or it never happened.......

c pixs below

This must be somewhere in Abakiliki

But I didn't read your Novel.

Your story is untrue, they make over 1,000 naira a day, and they are found in most area that have rocks, especially where construction work just finished, so there are lots of smaller rocks to break down.

Kaduna, plateau have a lot of them. Life is hard but not as hard as you want us to believe.