How local barbers, tailors ‘survive’ amid extinction threat
Sanusi Muhammad, an origin of Miga town in Jigawa State, has so far spent two decades in the local barbing profession, through which he earns a living and takes care of his family. He is based at Zone 5, Wuse District, Abuja, and is always busy with customers, making him work from morning till evening on average days.
Muhammad said he chose the business in order to maintain his dignity and that of his family although many of his counterparts had left the profession due to one challenge or another. He lamented that some of his clients hardly considered the current inflation in the country while paying for his services as they insist on what they have been paying over a decade.
The local barber, popularly known as Mai-Zone 5 or Ward Head among members of the community for sticking to one location for over a decade, said that occasionally, he was invited by some elites for home service. He said such invitations attracted handsome payments.
Daniel Naftale, Muhammad’s customer, said he started patronising him since 2001.
“In the past, I used to patronise modern barbers, but their services cost me “hair burn” on my head
and neck every time they shaved me. So I quit patronising them and switched to this type of barbing, which I discovered to be quite better and free from skin infection.
“Now, no matter where I travel to or what it would cost me to locate them, I always make sure I patronise local barbers whenever the need arises. Besides that, I noticed that a local barber gives me a clearer skin cut when compared to the modern barber,” Naftale said.
Malam Yusuf Muahammad Wanzam is another Abuja-based local barber who hails from Warawa in Kano State. He plies his trade in Kubwa, Federal Capital Territory (FCT). He could be described as a household name among a section of the community and beyond, having attended to many children during their naming ceremonies.
For him, the local barbing business, which he said he inherited from his father and grandfather, is beyond haircuts.
“It has more to do with traditional rites and health issues like circumcision, cutting of neck’s tonsil and female clitoris usually done for babies on their naming ceremony day,” he said.
He said that in the past, local barbers were considered as health experts among their communities as they were seen as having
the knowledge to cure health challenges.
“Local barbers engage in cutting off tonsil from a human being’s neck in order to afford him a free flow while eating or drinking. It also leads to a painful feeling around the ear or headache for a person that grows up with it, as well as make him prone to vomiting. These happen until it is cut off,” Wanzam added.
He appreciates the profession, which he said had made him a house owner in Abuja. He also takes care of his children’s studies and other family needs.
According to Wanzam, he also attends to a number of male and female clients who encounter health challenges at an advanced age, having missed the opportunity at an early age.
He, however, lamented that many of his counterparts quit the business owing to lack of appreciation from clients, as well as decline in patronage owing to the invention to modern barbing techniques.
Also, in many parts of the Federal Capital Territory, mobile tailors, popularly referred to as ‘Obioma,’ are a familiar sight.
As difficult as this profession may appear, some young people are doing it and making money as they walk from street to street under the sun in search of persons who want to mend their clothes.
Sanni Yusuf, who relocated from Kano to Abuja in search of a greener pasture six years ago, told Daily Trust Saturday that the business is easy to start and is rewarding if one knows the skills.
However, Yusuf, who announces his presence as he walks from one place to another in Kubwa and its environs, said the business was no longer profitable.
Speaking in Hausa, he said, “The business does not have much profit as it was before now. This may be connected to the current economic hardship. Early last year, I was making at least N4,000 daily. Now, I don’t make up to that amount. My daily take-home is not stable, but the most important thing is that it brings steady cash and has enabled me to cultivate the habit of saving whenever I have surplus.”
Another tailor, Ibrahim Muhammed, said he made money from people who bought readymade cloths that did not sit well on their bodies. And since some people do not always get their sizes, they patronise mobile tailors like him.
He said, “I make between N30,000 and N50,000 every month. I charge N500 to reduce the size of a pair of trousers and N250 to reduce the waist. This could be higher if other amendments are needed. These charges are not stable because the texture and quality of the material also affect pricing.”
He said some of the challenges he faced was the possibility of damaging customers’ cloths due to the nature of the materials, as well as the inability to properly communicate with clients.
“There are some velvet or silk materials that when not properly measured and cut, would leave one leg longer than the other. This also happens with some designer cloths. In most cases, the owners of such materials ask the tailors to pay for the damage, which may result in fighting.
“There is also the problem of language barrier. In this case, due to little or no education, the tailor may do the opposite of what the customer wants. We cannot rule out all these, but it must be noted that all trades have their ugly sides,” Muhammed said.
Abdullahi Ya’u has been in many states in the country through his mobile tailoring occupation, which, according to him he started in 1990. An origin of Gwarzo Local Government Area in Kano state, the fifty year old man said he usually leaves his community after the crop harvesting, in order not to remain idle.
He said he made a lot of fortunes through the business in the past, like owning a farm, a motorcycle, and also had a wedding.
“The business has taken me to cities like Lagos, Port Harcourt, Owerri, Umaahia, in the south, as well as Bauchi, Gombe, and Maiduguri in the north. The transport fare was affordable at the time, with less than three thousand naira, one can take care of himself in both transport and other logistics up to your destination in the south. There was good earning then, much more than what we earn nowadays that has been double with cost of living.
The mobile tailor who was seen moving around a neighborhood in Kubwa town in the FCT, lamented that the business is no longer lucrative, as its operators hardly save anything from their earnings, after feeding themselves, and sending something to the family, back home.
‘Some clients abscond with money’
Yusufa Ahmad, an indegene of Miga town in Jigawa state, said he engaged in polishing-shoe’s before switching to being a mobile tailor, which he considers as more productive.
“I save between one, to two thousand naira at times in a day, after feeding myself out of the earnings, but there are other days that I find it difficult to even eat, due to the nature of the work.
“Some customers would give you work, and shut their gate, without settling you for the work rendered. In such situations, I just leave, as there is nothing I can do about it”, Ahmad narrated.
He said he has so far spent about four years in the seasonal profession, which he usually quit and goes back to his community once the rainy season sets in.
Another mobile tailor, Musa Salisu says that he came to the FCT from his home community of Kaita, in Katsina state. He said he hoped to be a shop owner in tailoring, which he noted has countless advantages over the mobile one.
“Having a fixed location would afford me to have more customers and get the value of my work, “Salisu noted. He maintained that in mobile tailoring, clients pay them what they wish, not what their work deserves, without considering the cost of living. He said that some of them are liaise with the conventional tailors with fixed location, working for them under an agreed arrangement, as he disclosed.