A typical afternoon in Coke Village, Bayero University’s student market is noisy and full of buying and selling activities.
From the hot spicy Sharwama joints to the smoky Gurasa and suya spots amongst other places, Coke village is always crowded with students who engage in business activities.
The absence of students on campus as a result of the strike embarked by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) consequently affects business activities in the schooling environment, with business owners and traders bemoaning the unending strike which has caused most businesses to shut, pending when the school resumes.
Daily News 24 reports that it has been more than two months since ASUU went on strike, causing the halt of academic activities across all public universities in the country.
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The loud generator sound that emanates from various shops of businesses who are involved in photocopying, selling handouts and student’s stationeries, photography, provision as well as restaurants, in Coke village, are all non-existent.
Silence and dryness are what best describe Coke village as nearly all shops are under lock and key. When one steps on the accumulated dry brown leaves that have piled up at major paths in Coke village it creates a loud noise which notifies that an individual is close by.
When Daily News 24 spoke with a Cyber Cafe owner, Mama G as she is popularly called, she simply said ‘’Abeg una don come again dey ask ask us questions…I no get strength to talk today..I don tire. Since morning I don dey shop and even one customer I never see and time na almost 3pm…How I wan take get money? This sufferness wey this strike don use my eye see don tire me.’’
Mr Sa’id Mohammed, who is into the spiral binding of students’ final year projects is contemplating shutting down his shop and starting an entirely new line of business. He told this reporter that it was so sad that his family will have to be patient till school resumes before he can provide adequately for them.
‘’As a family man how will I come to my place of work and then go back home without a single Kobo in my pocket? I have wasted my transportation and fuel which is scarce to come and get nothing. How will I cope with my family? It is only God that is holding us if not, we cannot survive, and this is the Ramadan period.
‘’Some of my colleagues are intending to sell their shops and go elsewhere. Walahi if I can be able to get enough capital I will not continue in this business because it isn’t sustainable anymore because of ASUU strike. All of us here don’t know when this strike will end. Are we going to continue suffering like this? May Allah help us all.’’ He concluded.
Optimism that the strike will be called off soon is what is still keeping Mallam Aminu, a barber. He said idles have become the order of the day, stating that the current economic hardship ravaging the country and the ASUU strike further complicates his situation.
‘’ As you can see, everywhere is quiet and the environment is dull and to worsen things, there is no light. Before I usually have students trooping into my shop and that earns me something significant but not anymore.
‘’Some of my colleagues no longer come to work because the only thing we do is discuss random issues till the end of the business day. My prayer is that God will see us through, Insha Allah.’’ Mallam Aminu said.
Mallam Idris Zakara, a laundryman told Daily News24 that when school is in session, a large number of students troop into his shop in search of his laundry services to the extent that he gets overwhelmed and sometimes declines some laundry jobs elsewhere.
‘’It is so sad that I used to reject some laundry jobs from students before but now, I hardly get clothes to wash and iron. This strike came at a really bad time because it is the fasting period and I need to adequately provide for my family but sadly, I can barely feed my family during this period.
‘’On behalf of my family and my colleagues who have closed their shop because of this hardship, I am begging the federal government to hear the cry of ASUU so that the students can return to school and we also can get our business back to normal,’’ he said.
As businesses face, the heat of the strike with some folding up, the only trickle of hope that will bring smiles to the faces of the business owners is the resumption of academic activities not only at Bayero University Kano, but in Nigeria.
