The images from this documentation were culled and referenced to news report and data magazines, as a private investigator not getting paid, your safety comes first. Nobody dares go into these Lagos wastelands with cameras alone without paying the ultimate price, because you are not just going to meet and see scavenger, you are going to meet murderers,drug dealers, kidnappers and so on hence you must blend in pretty much as you can.
The aim of this research is for my charity group as we planned to touch lives in the slums of the city before we finally ended up inside Makoko the floating slum. Yes @steem-lagos had a lot of plans before we ran out of funds during the 2018 Dip. However, almost Ninety percent(90%) of this write-up is factual, i was there myself, seen many of it point blank; on my way to work and back, on private documenting trips. The remaining 10% is for adventurous purposes as you could exercise the imaginary powers of your brains and imagine the life this folks lives on daily basis in these slums, not as an insult to these folks but as a commendation for trying live crime free.
A sad story of the Giant of Africa; Nigeria(once upon a time) a Nation with lands flowing with Natural resources(Milk and Honey as it was called) but never accessible to the common man, the citizens. That is, underutilized resources which an average citizens could not benefit from it's affluence except from a few who are on the course to ruin the country's economy and riches. Unfortunately, the corona pandemic took over their master plan, every country in the world is suffering the blow of the viral outbreak.
Sadly, the Colonial and slave masters had caused this mess, foreign powers had created this massive vacuum between the Extremely Rich and extremely poor. Poverty has been weaponized, not just in Nigeria but mostly in all Third world Nations, the Struggle to survive and live yet another day is the major war and we all hoped the Blockchain will offset some of these poverty soonest.
As it is in the Waste Land...
Scavenging is not a new thing, it is a global phenomenon and it is done all over the countries of the World both in the developed Nations and underdeveloped/developing ones, both individually/locally and industrially. The difference is that, some people's next meal, their livelihood depends solely on it; without daily rummaging of those massive wastes brought from the city - No Meals for these folks!
For clarity, life in the Wasteland is completely different from a regular life. A life defied by lowest human standards; a life of fear, vulnerability to diseases, a life of constant and extreme hard-work with zero or little returns, with a slim chance of success, and also a life of fun and extreme Freedom. Freedom from unemployment sagas, a life free of Bills and Rents except paying dues to wasteland thugs and slum KKingpins for safety.
For some people, Scavenging is an adventure while to some it is a job and means of living with no age barriers and no qualification except your strength and ability to linger on in hope which gives you more experience as days turns into months and years. This is what pays well as some of the wasteland folks claimed.
Both the young and old, male and female wakes up as early as 4:00am before dawn in long queues waiting for fresh crops of wastes from refuse trucks coming in from the inner city. There is hierarchy in the Wastelands, the veterans with many years scavenge first, and then the rookies wait for their turn.
In these wastelands, the most popular materials that these scavengers search for the most and sell for a reasonable price to make a living ranges from Metals to Plastics, Tin foils, Copper wires/Cables, Aluminium, used/damaged electrical devices/electronics components with damaged mobile devices and some woods(from damaged cabinets and wardrobes). There is no guaranteed income/earnings, price changes per day and as per the veterans who calls the shots of every material found while rummaging, and yet these are "the most passionate workers the World as ever seen"
The experienced ones, and some of the hardworking boys, girls, older adults make approximately $31.7 on a very good day, while on a very bad day no cent is made. Not considering the risk involved; severe injuries and exposures to terrible diseases from these dump sites. Since there is no standard amount to be earned daily, some earn just $0.63 in a day, or slightly above that, so its a game of sheer luck and hard work plus experience.
Amazingly some of this folks puts to good use the funds generated from their hardworks. A few wants to use the money to fund their college dreams, some trying to raise capital and start a more decent business while other group of people spends it all on booze and slum whorehouses. They pay no tax to the Government directly but pay tips/bribe to dump sites Government officials as a form of Rent/lease to scavenge on this lands.
In some larger dump sites, shanties and man made huts could be seen visibly from drone footage, they have little football fields and in the nights; different activities could be seen by these wasteland inhabitants just to keep their spirits up and give them some sense of existence and purpose.
These guys chose to be rummaging through wastes over committing crimes, people who live below poverty line but are passionate citizens who had chosen a dirty life over a life of causing others troubles...
@oluwoleolaide According to the National Bureau of Statistics in Nigeria, "The National Poverty rate currently stands at 40.09 per cent, representing 82.9 million persons and this excludes Borno State"
I don't know how to describe poverty in Nigeria, Where majority of the population live below 1$ a day. I so much have respect for these guys that pick metals and plastics around just because they don't want to commit crime. Although some will do this during the day and still commit crime at night. The country is in a mess. The country's population sits around 200 million and 82.9million people are in Poverty, that's too bad and I seriously don't know what the Government is doing, they keep on bringing up Programmes that are not sustainable.
Thanks for the stats and data, I have a feeling of the inaccuracy of their poverty rate data,I'm strongly convinced that 89+Million out of 200Million population is way too small maybe to fit political agenda purposes. But I hope we can do our parts using Blockchain with its immense opportunities.
You are right, I think so about the published poverty data too. We can just do our part and contribute to the reduction of the poverty rate in our land.
Thank you
Lo felicito por exponer la situación de Nigeria, que como Ud. ha comentado, ocurre en todo el mundo.
En mi país, Venezuela, la situación es similar.
Solo que la gente más pobre, se adelanta al camión de basura y se "alimenta" de los desechos, antes de que lleguen al vertedero.
Hurgan las bolsas, donde son apiladas por la gente, en las calles, frente a los negocios, casas, etc.
La llegada de la COVID-19, ha agravado la situación.
Los vertederos y rellenos sanitarios se han convertido en territorios peligrosos, un submundo que es gobernado por mafias, sin ningún control del estado.
Existe una formalidad, que va desde el sitio donde pesan la basura y el lugar donde los operadores de maquinaria pesada la manejan.
De ahí en adelanta, ya no hay control gubernamental. Felicitaciones.
aliriera