Few Hours Ago, i interviewed 6 Pure
Water Sellers, And According To Them:
----------------------
Sometimes, It Takes About 2 to 3 Hours To Sell a
bag (20 Sachets) Of Water Which Amounts To A
Total Of N200 (less than 1Dollar).
From The N200, The Profit Is Only About N50 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 3 Hours Of Hustling Under The
# HotSun , 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 N1,000.
As If That Isn't Bad Enough, When Passengers
And Drivers Reach The Traffic Stops, They Prefer
To Dash/Give N100, N200 Or Even N500 To
Beggars And # FakeSufferers Who Sometimes
Make About N1,500 to N3,000 A Day Doing
Nothing But Begging, Leaving Them Richer,
Luckier And Safer Than The Pure Water Sellers
Who Are # YoungEntrepreneurs Serving The
Larger
Community With Their Trade, And Trying To Make
Ends Meet.
So My Dearest Friends, My Point Here Is, When
Next You Are At A Traffic Stop BusStop, Please:
1. Dash The Pure Water Seller Instead (More
Often though).
2. Buy Pure Water To Patronise Them And If
your
Change(Balance) Is (N10, N50 Or Even N80, You
Can Leave It With Them).
3. Say Something Nice To Them. Greet Them,
Encourage Them.
4. Slow Down, Don't Knock Them Down with your
Auto-Mobiles.
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".
6. Under The Approval of Their Parents or
Guardian, you can still sponsor a Child in
School...If You Are Equal to the Task.
# SheddingTears
# PrayForTheWanderingKidsOutThere
# PrayForTheDisplaced
# PrayForThePoorFamily
# PrayForNigerianEco

Oh dear...

Touched

Survival is not an easy task.

I was once a water seller so I can relate very well with what the OP said, it is not easy at all, may God bless others still in the trade. May God bless the faithful labour of their hands.

Suffering full naija. Nothing new here. If we had a government scheme that gave out benefits at the end of the month and subsidy of foodstuff, at least every citizen would have a basic level of finance to take care of themselves.

Chai. Naija obodo oma m, kedu ka anyi ga esi che iru. Ndi obodo oso na eche iru anyi ana na asu. Kedu ife anyi melu ndi na achi obodo anyi bikonu? Ife nke a bu ife nwute obi. Ogadi nma ofu mbosi sha, jisi nu ike umu oma.

It is well!!!

I pity those dos kids esp on highways. Iam nt proud of ds country n kw Iam nt alone.

Chaaiiii.. hard life!

I pity the children who are being abused! Running across the expressways when their mates are in school. . Really pathetic.

Hard life wey we dey live for naija, Chai!!! When you finally make it despite all these hardship, there's always this sense of extreme joy while flexing your bar. Lol. It's never easy for igboro, buh like chief Zebrudaya said "what can man be does"

iPray for them, iFeel for them, I'll try to assist them whenever and however I can.

Been awhile I commented on a post... But surely this is an eye opener. Thanks for the post OP

It breaks my heart when I see young kids like 9,10even on the highways selling pure water on their heads

wow... okay no more wasting anyone's time chasing me in traffic and will definitely patronize them more.

Revealing post. Thanks OP.
lalasticlala 1 chilled pure water for you if this thread enter FP

Some of these folks hawking are actually not "poor"

Some do these stuffs cos they bare in their blood the spirit of TRADING.

When you meet a TRADER, she'd do anything to sell her goods. I've seen level 14 officers hawking Ghana must go bags around offices to sell Men's Shirt, some sell Biscuits and Minerals to colleagues, etc.

I'm not trying to discourage people, but I don't usually look down or consider all road side pure water sellers as POOR. If you want to help, HELP, however do not limit yourself to road traders and pure water sellers alone as some actually love and enjoy what they do: TRADING.

There is no better way to help a TRADER than to give him/her an opportunity to trade. Some people will FAIL if you put them under 24hr Air Conditioner.

Front page, I beg!

Amustical:
Few Hours Ago, i interviewed 6 Pure
Water Sellers, And According To Them:
----------------------
Sometimes, It Takes About 2 to 3 Hours To Sell a
bag (20 Sachets) Of Water Which Amounts To A
Total Of N200 (less than 1Dollar).
From The N200, The Profit Is Only About N50 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 3 Hours Of Hustling Under The
# HotSun , 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 N1,000.
As If That Isn't Bad Enough, When Passengers
And Drivers Reach The Traffic Stops, They Prefer
To Dash/Give N100, N200 Or Even N500 To
Beggars And # FakeSufferers Who Sometimes
Make About N1,500 to N3,000 A Day Doing
Nothing But Begging, Leaving Them Richer,
Luckier And Safer Than The Pure Water Sellers
Who Are # YoungEntrepreneurs Serving The
Larger
Community With Their Trade, And Trying To Make
Ends Meet.
So My Dearest Friends, My Point Here Is, When
Next You Are At A Traffic Stop BusStop, Please:
1. Dash The Pure Water Seller Instead (More
Often though).
2. Buy Pure Water To Patronise Them And If
your
Change(Balance) Is (N10, N50 Or Even N80, You
Can Leave It With Them).
3. Say Something Nice To Them. Greet Them,
Encourage Them.
4. Slow Down, Don't Knock Them Down with your
Auto-Mobiles.
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".
6. Under The Approval of Their Parents or
Guardian, you can still sponsor a Child in
School...If You Are Equal to the Task.
# SheddingTears
# PrayForTheWanderingKidsOutThere
# PrayForTheDisplaced
# PrayForThePoorFamily
# PrayForNigerianEco

I don't understand why Nigerians keep having kids they cannot fend for. Why are people still so stupid in this country? Poverty really sits well with some people o.

I saw a girl once at ojuelegba,i was quite young then,she was crying and carrying a bowl(pure water bowl -i guessed),as i saw the tears roll down her eyes and she walked away two quick thoughts flashed through my mind,1-she had just being raped , 2-she had just lost all the returns from the sales that day,and i thought and wondered how many more kids around the world will be dealing with the two possible outcomes,there and then,i felt a cold breeze and demobilizing chill down my spine and my heart melted.always be good to these kids no matter what.God bless u.

This is quite touching. There is disabled guy that usually sells ID card holders too. And people with 2 hands and 2 legs will comfortably resort to begging.

p this is really touching. One prayer I always pray is for God to use me proffer solution to such children roaming the street.

This is really touching and an eye opener. It's always so pathetic and saddening seeing those young children running up and down in traffic selling wares, it makes me wonder where their parents are.
I can remember a scenario while I was younger in Sec sch and I saw a girl of abt 6 yrs crying, she was hysterical, I cldn't bring myself to ignore her like everyone else, I got to knw she had been bullied by a guy who took all the day's proceedings from her, I gave the little I cld and explained her plight to other passersby, together we even made more than the amt she lost.
That's why anytime I feel down or sad, I remember these pple and find myself thanking God instead.
May God bless Nigeria and help these poor souls

Tell them to move over to selling bottle water,they can make 300naira by just selling 12 cans of 50naira worth of bottled water.

herringbone:
Tell them to move over to selling bottle water,they can make 300naira by just selling 12 cans of 50naira worth of bottled water.

No be every Nigerian dey buy bottled water.

Acidosis, what are you trying to say sef? Apples and oranges. Hawking on the highway is pure suffer and definitely is not by choice. I'm sure if they have the means, they'd prefer to trade comfortably.

Where are their parent? Why did they give birth to them when they know they will come to this earth to suffer.

Amustical:
Few Hours Ago, i interviewed 6 Pure
Water Sellers, And According To Them:
----------------------
Sometimes, It Takes About 2 to 3 Hours To Sell a
bag (20 Sachets) Of Water Which Amounts To A
Total Of N200 (less than 1Dollar).
From The N200, The Profit Is Only About N50 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 3 Hours Of Hustling Under The
# HotSun , 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 N1,000.
As If That Isn't Bad Enough, When Passengers
And Drivers Reach The Traffic Stops, They Prefer
To Dash/Give N100, N200 Or Even N500 To
Beggars And # FakeSufferers Who Sometimes
Make About N1,500 to N3,000 A Day Doing
Nothing But Begging, Leaving Them Richer,
Luckier And Safer Than The Pure Water Sellers
Who Are # YoungEntrepreneurs Serving The
Larger
Community With Their Trade, And Trying To Make
Ends Meet.
So My Dearest Friends, My Point Here Is, When
Next You Are At A Traffic Stop BusStop, Please:
1. Dash The Pure Water Seller Instead (More
Often though).
2. Buy Pure Water To Patronise Them And If
your
Change(Balance) Is (N10, N50 Or Even N80, You
Can Leave It With Them).
3. Say Something Nice To Them. Greet Them,
Encourage Them.
4. Slow Down, Don't Knock Them Down with your
Auto-Mobiles.
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".
6. Under The Approval of Their Parents or
Guardian, you can still sponsor a Child in
School...If You Are Equal to the Task.
# SheddingTears
# PrayForTheWanderingKidsOutThere
# PrayForTheDisplaced
# PrayForThePoorFamily
# PrayForNigerianEco

This story was posted on facebook by a respected Nigerian. Removing the source of your post is not fair to that educated gentleman. Thanks for bringing it to nairaland though.

ifyalways:

No be every Nigerian dey buy bottled water.

Acidosis, what are you trying to say sef? Apples and oranges. Hawking on the highway is pure suffer and definitely is not by choice. I'm sure if they have the means, they'd prefer to trade comfortably.

Some of these folks selling on the highway have shops elsewhere. They navigate on the highway to compliment low or poor sales in the shop.

The only reason I'd always discourage road side sellers is SAFETY ISSUE, not poverty. They're simply hustlers who are trying to make profits for survival.

This thread might discourage people who need to take their destiny in their hands. Some rich landlords with tenants and fenced apartments and deep freezers still sell "ice blocks" and ice fish. My landlord sells water as well ( guess the price? N5 per 20 litre jerrycan! He's in his 70s. Its not always about poverty cos the rent he gets yearly from his shops and apartments is over N1m.

My mom (now a level 14 civil servant) still sells clothes, banana, plantain. Years back, she sold 'zobo', 'kunu', 'ice water', etc. and we the children assisted in navigating these items (not on Lagos-Ibadan highway though).

OP should not condemn these folks based on profit. How much does he think those in the shops realize on pure water sales? after deducting tax, rent and electricity?

You are welcome

lockedOut:
Been awhile I commented on a post... But surely this is an eye opener. Thanks for the post OP

The challenge is dat some of dem connive wit crooks to perpetuate nefarious activities, Just two month ago a friend and a colleague was drugged afta buying bottled water bought from traffic in a public bus. He was robbed of his valuables. so how do u identify the innocent chaps?