Most of those in
the group drive tankers of petrol, diesel or kerosene to and from Maiduguri -
the city at the heart of the Islamist insurgency in the north-east and the capital
of Borno state.
Gathered at the
Ogere Trailer Park, about 50km (30 miles) north of Lagos, they say they have
all been affected by the six-year conflict.
The militants
stopped them and cut off their heads with an electric chainsaw”
"We are all
concerned about the situation, we have all lost relatives, wives and children
are kidnapped and houses have been burnt," says Atiku Abubakar.
Speaking in Hausa,
he and his colleagues describe the perils of the route to and from Lagos.
It takes two and a
half days when a tanker is empty and four and a half days when full.
They say it is
dangerous enough without the militants to contend with as there are so many
potholes.
"Ten of my
colleagues who ply this route have been killed in the last three weeks,"
says Mr Abubakar.
"The
militants stopped them and cut off their heads with an electric chainsaw and
burned the trucks," he says.
"Boko Haram
is usually only interested in commandeering smaller vehicles, sometimes the
fighters will take the lorries, but most of the time they burn them."
Another truck
driver chips in to say that if a driver looks "powerful" he may be
kidnapped and conscripted as a fighter, but anyone looking "weak"
will definitely "lose his head".
"If you reach
Damaturu by five in the afternoon, you dare not continue on the final leg to
Maiduguri," he says, explaining that a driver may not manage the last
130km before the sun sets, when they would be most vulnerable to attack.
The drivers tend
to work for an owner who has about 20 tankers - each vehicle also has about two
assistants to help with loading and guarding the cargo, known as motor boys.
As the drivers and
motor boys ease into the conversation they begin to open up about how the
insurgency has directly affected them.
Driver Trap Bukar
says he was in the town of Bama when it was captured by Boko Haram last
September.
"It started
early in the morning. Suddenly they came. There was shooting, in my presence I
saw four people go down; the soldiers fled," he says.
He lifts up his
shirt to show what look like bullet scars on his upper torso
"I could tell
you many unhappy tales," he says, with tears in his eyes.
But he suddenly
gets up and leaves the group and his colleagues say he is too traumatised by
his memories to continue.
Kullima Ali, 18,
who has been a motor boy for four years, says he is now his family's only bread
winner.
He says it is very
difficult to tell the militants from soldiers, as they dress in camouflage -
with only their eyes visible.
"They stole
some food, killed my two brothers and burned our house in Maiduguri in January
2013," he says.
"There's only
my mother and my sister now."
He says he had
wanted to go and study science, but he is unable to afford to continue his
education.
"Many of the
drivers have good qualifications," says Umar Hussaini, 18, a motor boy who
helps his driver brother.
He introduces me
to Ibrahim Abdullahi, 25, a former university student who had been studying
civil engineering at the start of insurgency.
President Jonathan
is just as guilty as those Boko Haram killers because he has chopped off all
the money to repair the roads,”
He has been
working as a trucker for the last five years as there are few other employment
opportunities for young men, especially in the areas affected by the conflict.
"Yes I am
scared, if there was other work I would find another job," says Mr
Abdullahi.
All the truckers
express anger about the six-week postponement of the 14 February presidential
election and are vocal in their criticism of President Goodluck Jonathan's
handling of the conflict.
Some even refer to
him as "the chairman of Boko Haram" - seeing him as complicit in the
group's growth over the years.
Others say his
complicity lies in his neglect of north-east.
"President
Jonathan is just as guilty as those Boko Haram killers because he has chopped
off all the money to repair the roads," Mr Abubakar says.
Life is now a
constant financial struggle for them, he adds.
For each trip, a
driver gets a 10,000 naira ($50, £33) living allowance but this might have to
last for several weeks as he waits at Ogere Trailer Park for clearance to go
into Lagos port to collect cargo.
Saleh Mohamed, a
driver who has just arrived back from Lagos port with his shipment of petrol,
sits down with the group under the porch looking exhausted.
"I spent four
days in the queue in the traffic to the port - I haven't slept for four nights
because I had to watch out for thieves as they remove parts from the vehicle or
steal the gas," he says.
But he is only
taking a short break of a couple of hours as he is anxious to put the coming
dangers behind him.
"The killings
are too much and have been going on for too long," says his colleague Mr
Abubakar.
"President
Jonathan is not doing anything. We hope he will leave - we want change."
Quick Facts:
It costs 500 naira ($2.50) for the trucks to
stay at Ogere Trailer Park for two weeks
To stay in Lagos it could cost 1,000 naira a
night - and vehicles would be at risk from thieves
The truckers sleep outdoors in areas organized
by the state - and there are mosques in some sections
Most of the truckers get a monthly salary of
between $100 and $200 and the motor boys receive $2.50 a day.
[BBC]
Cover picture: Nigerian truck drivers
who have survived a journey through Boko Haram territory relax out of the sun
under the porch of a building
Boko Haram Crisis: Truck Drivers Risking Attack
Reviewed by Unknown
on
Monday, March 09, 2015
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