At Mile 12 International Market, Ibrahim Afusat stretches what she earns as a porter to feed herself and help keep her three children in school.
Ibrahim Afusat had eaten rice that morning. By 2pm on 3 November, she told Kosofe Inside Out she had earned ₦2,000 carrying shoppers’ goods through Mile 12 International Market. Two modest meals usually cost her about ₦3,000.
Afusat has worked as an alabaru, or market porter, for more than four years. She usually starts looking for customers between 7am and 8am near the pepper stalls in the market’s perishable foods section. She has no fixed rate and accepts what buyers offer after she carries their purchases. She says she cannot afford to buy produce in the quantities they do.
She pays ₦100 a day for a work ticket collected by the market taskforce and another ₦100 to use a privately run bathing facility.
Afusat is from Ilorin. Her three children live and attend school in Kwara State. Speaking in Yoruba, she said she balances her own living costs with their school fees and other needs.
She says she cannot afford a place of her own in Lagos. She pays ₦3,000 a month for a sleeping space near the market and shares the room with more than 10 other people. Staying close to work saves her the daily fare.
Afusat relies on ajo, a daily savings contribution. She says most of her colleagues in the market rely on it too. It is, in her words, “what I bank on”.
Would you like to support Mrs Afusat?
If you’d like to offer financial or practical help, email Kosofe Inside Out at kosofeinsideout@gmail.com. We’ll ask Mrs Afusat what would help and put you in touch in the way she prefers.