…seek recognition, training opportunity
Like vultures around a carcass, they gathered around the Honda Civic saloon car, with their leader Wasio Ibrahim supervising. Incidentally, they are all within the same age range, 20-26 years. As they are close in age, so are they in height – all looking neat and charming in their youth, despite the greasy atmosphere they worked in.
Layer by layer and preset by preset, these Yoruba-speaking young Nigerians removed all the necessary parts they needed to remove from the car. Within approximately one hour, the lovely car had become like a skeleton in a laboratory. Ibrahim and his young team had done a good job of dismantling the “helpless” Honda Civic, with great enthusiasm and high level commitment, as if they were the manufacturers or were there when it was manufactured.
Although re-assembling the car was interesting to watch, it was not without its hassles. Kazeem Ismaila, one of the young chaps, lost some blood in the process. When they eventually finished working on the car, all the electrical issues that brought the car there in the first instance had been resolved.
Ibrahim and his team had done a professional job, a feat many mechanical and electrical engineering graduates of Nigeria’s tertiary institutions cannot boast of. Some of these engineering graduates even admitted that they rely on these ‘roadside’ mechanics to have their own cars fixed.
Ibrahim told BDSUNDAY that the term “roadside” was an attempt to denigrate them and their contribution to the Nigerian economy as well as crime reduction, given that many Nigerian youths of their age, including graduates, are now terrorizing the country as kidnappers, armed robbers, etc.
“Some of the boys you see here have primary or secondary education. They call us roadside because of government neglect. None of us here is above 26 years of age. What is government doing to make us do better? This is our passion,” he said.
“Thank God you came here to watch how we are doing and you can testify to our passion for the job. There is no Honda product that we cannot handle, no matter how new the product is,” he added.
Kazeem Ismaila, 25, believes a little support from government can really help in making them able to compete with their counterparts anywhere in the world. With the necessary training and equipment, he boasted, producing a car would not be an unrealisable dream.
“What we really need is empowerment by our government. If I can get an industrial training attachment in a company where cars are manufactured, imagine the impact that would have on me,” he said.
“I have a dream to go Germany and learn from companies like Audi and Mercedes Benz how to manufacture a car. I pray one day government will take us serious,” he told BDSUNDAY.
Moses Imhasuagbon, a mechanical engineering graduate of the University of Benin, admitted that, in practical terms, even he does not know what some of these so-called roadside mechanics know about automobiles.
“A lot of mechanical engineering graduates like myself don’t know in the real sense what it takes to drop an engine of a car. What we did while in school were just theories. The people you call roadside mechanics are people that even mechanical engineering graduates like me would call upon when their cars need diagnosis and repair,” he said.
Calling on the relevant authorities to find a way to give these young Nigerians who through years of dedicated and committed practice became auto engineers without knowing the four walls of any higher institution, Imhasuagbon said theoretical training and international exposure would enhance their knowledge for the benefit of the country.
“Government has sent ex-militants in the Niger Delta overseas to learn various trades. If government can do that for former militants who held the country to ransom, nothing should stop it from doing same for this set of people. Except we are now in a country where only those carrying arms in the name of agitation are listened to,” he said.
On his part, Dongo Lucky, former facility manager, Golden Ruby Auto Centre, Lekki, said the distinguishing factor between his company and the ordinary mechanic is the way and manner things are handled. With the right industrial training, he said, so-called roadside mechanics can achieve greater feat.
“It is not because of their education that they are tagged roadside mechanics. The difference between someone working for an organization like ours and the tag-along mechanic out there is the way and manner we do our job,” he said.
“Take, for instance, we in the modern-day mechanic workshop have the opportunity of going for trainings abroad, learning of new ways and developments in the auto world. We have the advantage of firsthand information as well. I go online and read about vehicles; when there is a seminar or conference, I go for it. These are some of the advantages we have over those called roadside mechanics. They are not called roadside because they don’t know what they are doing,” he told BDSUNDAY.
Lucky explained that he learnt the trade of automobile engineering before he went to school and that gave him a better opportunity with the exposure and experience he now possesses in the field.
“Believe me, there are things in the vehicle that do not even require loosing because some of the things are produced electronically. You see a lot of wiring, a lot of electro diagram and a lot of design that do not even require loosing. Some of those guys tagged roadside mechanics are gifted, with due respect. If such guys are now given the opportunity under the supervision of someone who is exposed, I think they can do better,” he said.
“Government can do a lot of things for these guys. First thing is that government needs to start organizing a platform. They need to give these guys a platform, a developmental platform whereby their talent could be developed. Some of these trainings could sometimes cost up to $7,000 to $10,000, trip and everything. I think if the government starts organizing such seminars, having such forums and recruiting some of these guys, brushing them up, it could go a long way in helping us in this aspect as far as this country is concerned,” he added.
He noted that the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) also has a fundamental role to play in order to make the training a reality.
“That is where I think NSE needs to come in. They need to see how they can develop all these things, help these people and give them the chance they deserve. By so doing, I believe we will no longer have the roadside mechanics in Nigeria,” he said.
He suggested that every local government should organize a forum whereby some of these local mechanics can be enlightened as to the way and manner they handle things – tools, equipment and all that – adding that doing so could go a long way in repositioning the industry.
“After leaving primary school, I had the opportunity of going to Saint Joseph College, the same school Governor Mimiko attended. Immediately after that I went to Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma in Edo State, where I studied Electrical/Electronic Engineering. Shortly before then, I was fortunate to do an Industrial Training with Toyota Nigeria Limited where I gathered ample experience in the auto world,” he said.
“That was what gave me the urge to want to know about vehicles, tools, repairs, maintenance and all that. After my National Youths Service Corps (NYSC), I went to Metropolitan Motors (Toyota) in Oba Akran, Ikeja where I started working with them for a while before I went to Golden Ruby Auto Centre where I served as manager,” he added.
Idowu Sodiq, an elderly mechanic in Ebute-Meta, Lagos, said in addition to sending the young ones to training abroad, they also would need a mechanic village in Nigeria where all related to the field can converge.
“We have been struggling for a place. We need a mechanic village. When you don’t have a place, you will be on the roadside, then people will use you anyhow,” said Sodiq.
“Our number one priority as mechanics in Lagos and in Nigeria in general is to have a mechanic village. We need help from the government too. People now use modern tools and we don’t have money to buy them because we are not being paid what is right,” he told BDSUNDAY.
Sodiq said most times customers would want to pay N4,000 for a job worth N10,000 or N15,000 and that they accept such offers since they don’t have another.
“We accept low payment because we are hungry; we pay transport fare and feed our families. When it comes to auto engineering we have what it takes. We can operate like Toyota, Honda and the likes. We can even perform more than these big auto companies because whenever they don’t know what to do, they usually would come and call on us to assist. We have been waiting to see when the government would intervene in our matter,” he said.
“Every day things are changing. We are in the computer age. Everything (auto) is being digitalized. Unfortunately for us, we cannot afford modern tools. No matter the make of the vehicle, we will work on it as if we were there when it was manufactured, unless it has not entered into the country. We specialize in Honda vehicles. There is no model of Honda that we can’t deal with here. When we have land to operate, it will surprise Nigerians what we can do,” he further said.
Some of the mechanics who spoke to BDSUNDAY also complained of incessant intentional arrest of their members by policemen, lamenting that the act is a major threat to their operation.
“Another problem that we have is dealing with police. Sometimes when our members are going out to test a car, some unreasonable police officers would arrest them in spite of the evidence that they are mechanics. Of course, you know when a typical Nigerian policeman arrests you, he will never leave you for nothing,” said Lanre Omotosho, one of the mechanics.
NATHANIEL AKHIGBE
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