… says I’ve built my own house, owned a commercial bus by selling Abacha
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By Damian Duruiheoma
It is said that there is dignity in labour. Also, an Igbo adage illustrates it further, “oru obula mmadu na-aru na-enweta ego anaghi eme ya ihere” (meaning that man is not ashamed of any genuine job he does to earn a living).
In the wake of the stifling economic condition in the country, some people have identified vacuums in human activity and have devised various genuine means of satisfying human needs and thereby creating wealth for themselves. Some of the means of making such wealth look very menial, thus making people to erroneously despise the sellers. Yet, those involved in such businesses are get fulfilled doing them as most of them build good houses and train their wards to any level of education.
In the words of a journalist, Alex Ibe, they are even doing better than many in white collar jobs.
The story of Mrs. Rose Nkama, 34 as well as some other young ladies could be viewed in this light. They are sellers of African Salad popularly known asabacha in Igboland. Abacha is prepared with cooked but sliced cassava tubers and served with sliced garden eggs and the leaves as major ingredients.
Mrs. Nkama, mother of eight children said she had made a fortune in the business which she refers to as very lucrative, building a good bungalow in her husband’s house and owning a commercial bus that also generates more money for the upkeep of her family.
Mrs. Nkama said she ventured into the business since 10 years ago courtesy of her friend “who advised me to come to Owerri and start the business when she noticed that I was not doing anything to help my poor husband”.
Although doing the African Salad business is a very hectic one in the sense that the seller treks more than five kilometers to sell with her wares on her head, Mrs. Nkama, who hails from Oso Edda in Afikpo South LGA in Ebonyi, said she was enjoying the heat in the sense that nothing good comes easy.
This, according to her, is because “this has been the only source of my income and I’ve been training our children in school with it. I started this because of lack of job. But today, it is from where I do everything. I see it as a very lucrative business.
“My friend introduced me to it and advised me to start it and since then, i’ve been able to achieve something with it. You know in my place, a woman doesn’t build house or own big property where her husband is still alive, I can say my husband has built a good house in the village with the money from this business. We also have a commercial bus”.
What makes the business more profitable, she said, is because the food is cheap and rich in more nutritive value than the food people buy from restaurants. With N100, one can eat a plate of African Salad.
Nkama who disclosed that the business takes about N2000 to start, added that an average African salad seller makes makes between N3500 and N5000 daily.
”If I have any friend who is idling about, I will be ready to encourage him to start this business. It doesn’t take so much money in starting it. With N2000, one can start it. But, to a farmer, all you need is get cassava tubers from your farm and buy the ingredients and you have started it. We are encouraging girls in my place to embrace it and they are embracing it and many of them have stopped running after men” she said.
Surprisinly, almost all the sellers of abacha are from Ebonyi and Cross River States. But Nkama attributed it to what she called determination to survive on the part of her people and disclosed that Imo and Abia state women despised the business as a menial but very poor trade, “That’s why they don’t join us”.
In her words: If you watch in Imo State now, it is only Ebonyi and Calabar women that are involved in this business. The reason is that women from Imo, Anambra and Abia states see the sellers as very poor women who are involved in petty trading. But I don’t see it as a petty trading because if I can build my own house with this, then I don’t see it like that”.
Mr. Kelechi Ugo is a regular patron of African Salad. He said he enjoyed eating it every afternoon because it is one of the light foods that are very affordable, adding that with N100 one could have it, depending on how many plates one wants to eat.
Also, Mr. Iyke David and Mr. Anselam Anokwute said they enjoyed eating the food not because it is cheap and affordable to all, but because it has more nutrients than any other food eaten anywhere.
According to Anokwute, abacha is usually recommended by dieticians and doctors for pregnant women and even both ailing and healthy people because of its richness energy and other nutritive ingredients.
“If you watch now people who really care for their health are returning back to African delicacies. So, it shouldn’t surprise anybody if the abacha sellers are make a good living out of the business. This is because they always enjoy lots of patronage”.
