Ezekiel Oluranti’s head was buried in his laps when he heard a whisper.It was the voice of his friend, informing him a dirty vehicle has been sighted in the nearby gridlock.
The Lagos-Badagry expressway is home to one of the worst traffic gridlocks in Nigeria. A 10-kilometre drive between the Trade Fair part of the expressway and Okokomaiko could last up to three hours.During the rush hours, a two-kilometre drive from LASU Gate to Iyana-Iba – in the morning – or the opposite direction in the evening could last over an hour. Ezekiel and his group take an average of ten minutes to wash one car in the traffic.
A typical work day for the boys starts at 7 a.m. when they arrive and wait patiently for the morning gridlock. Unlike the traditional car wash business, the mobile car wash does not require the permission of the car owner. A dirty car is all the permission needed. After the washing, the boys loiter around the car for some sort of appreciation from the vehicle owner for the unsolicited service. Sometimes, it comes in the form of N100, N200, N500, N1,000 or more. Other times, they are ignored.“We can’t do anything to the car driver when we don’t get paid, we just move onto the next car to wash again.
“I do tailoring. Because my mummy has not paid my vocational skills acquisition, my boss talks to me anyhow and threatens to send me away for not paying,” said Ibrahim, the first of five children.He said he had already raised the N15,000 needed to pay his boss and would return to his apprenticeship “soon.”
Pathetic and inspiring but not sure their parents they remit to make good use of the money