I don’t have to tell you how much I earn…but I know quite a number of people who I’m ‘supposedly’ bigger than; but, earn much more than I earn.
My ‘vulcanizer’ who fixes my tyres does so & gets about N200/N250 per visit to him. If he does about 10/15 cars in a day, he gets between N2000 & N3750 daily. Working 25days a month, he makes between N50000 & N93750 monthly.
HOW MUCH IS YOUR SALARY?
My mechanic touches a few spots on my vehicle and gets a minimum 3-5k as workmanship (that’s aside inflated bills he gives me for spare parts). If he’s good enough and works about 4 vehicles a day, that’s average of 16k per day & 400k a month (25 working days).
HOW MUCH IS YOUR SALARY?
Let’s put the average Lagos trip by public transport at N100. Fourteen (14) passengers (Twenty-two for the bigger buses) amounts to N1,400 (or N2,200) per trip…(let’s ignore the ones who come in after some passengers have alighted). The average bus driver should be able to do a minimum of 10trips a day. That’s N14,000 (or 22,000) daily & N350,000 (or N550,000) monthly. Even if expenses like fuel, car maintenance, ‘daily deliver’ (for those who don’t own the vehicles) + the ‘Almighty street urchins’ (Agbèròs) gulp half of that sum, it still leaves the driver and his conductor with N175,000 monthly (or N275,000 for the bigger buses).
HOW MUCH IS YOUR SALARY?
The ‘Agbèrò’ himself at the bus stop is not left out. He collects about N100 from each bus (let’s say 100buses) &I hear them say things like, “Owó àárò’, “Owó Òsán” & “Owó alé – which translates, “Morning money”, “Afternoon money”, & “night money” respectively. That’s a sizeable N30,000 daily & N750,000 in 25days. Ok, I hear that these ones share the money with some Bàbá Ìsàlès (Area Fadas). Even at that, N750,000 monthly is not a small something.
HOW MUCH IS YOUR SALARY?
Even my gateman whose job is to open and close my gate for me when I’m going out (& coming in) is a BIG MAN. Cos without having to worry about too much packaging -spending so much on designer clothes- like I do…without having to spend more than half of his income on transport like I do… without some ‘meaningless expenses’ that the ‘office-man’ incures…, he gets free accommodation + 1 free meal per day and 15k. Hmmmmm!
HOW MUCH IS YOUR SALARY?
Don’t forget that all these guys -except the gateman- don’t have bosses they’re answerable to.
That means; they don’t have plenty office palava to deal with. They don’t have office politics to contend with. And most importantly, they can choose the day (& time) they want to go to work. My broda (sista), ONLY A BIG MAN CAN DO THIS!
If you think you are, I dare you not to go to work this morning.
. *** *** ***
I think I’ve made my point. I don’t know of a perfect way to end this write-up but three things coming to mind right now:
1. There’s no small job anywhere. Whatever your hands find to do, pls do with ALL your might.
2. You can continue to play the BIG MAN but as for me, I’ve made up my mind. The next time I pump my tyres at my ‘Vulcanizers’, I’d simply (& humbly) ask him, “Bros, anything for the boys”?
3. What’s your perfect title for this write-up? I want to keep it in my archives.
Oya, babai. Pls, go to work, Mr. BigMan… Loll
Written by …Prince krAzy®
