Written by Jake Okechukwu Effoduh.
I Just Interviewed 3 Pure Water Sellers In Central Area Abuja, And According To Them: Sometimes, It Takes About 6 Hours To Sell 20 Sachets Of Water Which Amounts To A Total Of N200 (1Dollar).
From The N200, The Profit Is Only About N40 As The Pure Water Sellers Have To Pay The Wholesalers Their Money Back As Well As Cover The Price For Ice Block Which Was Used To Cool The Water.
The Long And Short Of It Is That Some Of Them Make Only N40 In 6 Hours Of Hustling Under The Hot Sun, Risking Their Lives On Major Express Roads And Always At The Mercy Of The Environmental Protection Board Who Whip Them With Cane When Caught; Burst Their Water Sachets To The Ground And Fine Them N5,000.
As If That Isn't Bad Enough, When Passengers And Drivers Reach The Traffic Stops, They Prefer To Dash N100, N200 Or Even N500 To Beggars And Fake Sufferers Who Sometimes Make About N1,500 A Day Doing Nothing But Begging, Leaving Them Richer, Luckier And Safer Than The Pure Water Sellers Who Are Young Entrepreneurs ServingThe Larger Community With Their Trade, And Trying To Make Ends Meet.
So When Next You Are At A Traffic Stop, Please:
1. Dash The Pure Water Seller Instead
2. Buy Pure Water To Patronise Them And If The Change Is (N10, Or Even N20, You Can Leave It With Them)
3. Say Something Nice To Them. Greet Them, Encourage Them.
4. Slow Down, Don't Knock Them Down.
5. Even If You Wont Buy The Pure Water, If They Ask You To Buy, Rather Than Ignoring Them And Facing Front As If They Are Not Humans, You Can Look At Them, Smile And Say "Thank You"