From a novice in the newspaper vending business to one of the strongest voices among members of the profession, meet Comrade Etim Iwara, an indigene of Cross River State, now the chairman of the Abuja Newspaper Vendors Association; evidence of the Nigerian dream at work. Just as Nigerians were settling into the Olusegun Obasanjo – led administration of the early 2000s, Etim Iwara started plying his trade as a newspaper vendor in Abuja.
Iwara was aged 25 at the time and looking for employment. Newspaper vending was the trade most of his friends plied in Abuja, a trade both lucrative at the time but challenging. For Iwara, his disability, a limp, was the biggest challenge. “I asked myself, with my physical challenge can I be in this business? That was in the year 2001. I made up my mind and said, yes I will do it. Gradually, I learnt how to run on the road. I never gave up. It came with its own experiences, but I still had to remain strong,” he said while his gaze remained steady. Teaming up with his friends, he got his first location as a vendor, a choice spot in Abuja and after a while, he moved to the Ministry of Works and Housing.
He said, “For you to be a vendor, you have to look for a location you just discovered or go with your brothers. For a while, I followed my brothers to their locations, then I moved to the Ministry of Works and Housing. I started plying my trade from there and I later registered my own agency and hired workers.” But before he got his own employees and distribution agency, part of the challenges Iwara faced came from the leadership of the association at that time. As of 2002, Ifon Ikong, the then chairman of the Abuja Vendors’ Association had presided over the group for 11 years and was unwilling to relinquish his position through an election.
It was at a meeting of vendors that Iwara made his displeasure known; a displeasure that was akin to what others felt. Iwara said, “At that meeting, I observed that he had overstayed his time in office and asked why he had refused to conduct an election for fresher people to come in. And from that moment, focus of members shifted from payment of dues to leadership change. He asked me if I had registered with the association and I replied in the negative.
“I told him that at a point, I wanted to register but the coast was not clear. He then said I was in the union enjoying things without contributing financially. At a point, people started demanding leadership change and that he should allow democracy to.thrive in the union.” Although he was advised and encouraged to run for the position of chairman in the election that followed their agitation in 2002, Iwara refused, partly because he felt he was not ready and partly because he did not want it to seem that he disrupted the system so he could gain power for himself. “I decided to contest the position of secretary, but when the time came for the election I failed. It was not until 2011 that I ran again as the secretary and won. After that I spent four years in the position,” he said nodding his head slowly. Iwara is aware of the negative connotations that accompany his profession but to him, newspaper vending remains a stepping stone to greatness. Vendors, to Iwara, provide essential services, keeping the public up to date with what is happening, a very important and valuable task.
“The public believe the vendor is someone who is a misfit. Whereas it is an opportunity and a stepping stone for some of us to go beyond that level and cater to societal needs. Most vendors are graduates, they have been able to become better even after leaving that stage. We still have those who are not informed and educated among us but with time they will grow.. “Abuja vendors have produced so many graduates and so many responsible citizens. I know of a vendor that went on to work in the army and retired as a major.
It is a way of giving hope where people cannot easily get jobs. “We, as vendors, fail to look at ourselves the way others look at us. Vendors are like others and hope for a better society,” Iwara admonished. But the business is not what it used to be. Thanks to the internet, hard copies are harder to sell and the dwindling reading culture has affected the purchase of newspapers. “People no longer buy in sets,” he said, using his hand to gesticulate how some readers buy newspapers in bulk before now.
“Before, Thisday, Vanguard, Leadership and others will be arranged and sent to the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). We could buy a lot of papers and be sure that we would sell three-quarters of the bulk on that day. Now, it is not the same, the turnover is not as it used to be,” he says. With the knowledge he has gained from experiences in the field as one who links readers to newspapers, he explained that a good working relationship with vendors and unbiased reporting was key for publishing houses to remain in business.
According to him, it takes the confidence a vendor has in a certain newspaper for him to set aside a renowned newspaper for one just coming out. He said, “In my experience, the working relationship built with vendors and the ability to be able to make your vendor see that the paper has a bright future are important. It is not how you furnish your office that makes a story fly, Also, a story not properly investigated will cause consumers to distrust your outlet. It is expected that a media house should not report only the good side of the government as if it is on the government’s payroll.” When asked if he would dissuade his child or anyone else from considering newspaper vending, he spoke about how passion is important in any profession. “You cannot discourage a child from what he finds passion in.
It is a leadway to becoming a journalist. What matters most is selling and supplying. I would rather encourage the child to start from somewhere,” he said.
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