I was in Nigeria in 1983 when Nigeria was good. I hustle for Nigeria for almost three years. I go do mason. Mason no good for me, I ran, go do electricals. I don hustle. I be hustler o. I ran from school; I ran from final year go Nigeria. That time, hungry dey Ghana. I was a victim of the Ghana Must Go campaign. That time, Nigeria was sweet. I worked in Apapa. My senior brother’s friends were living there. They were graduates, so they taught in Nigerian government schools. Nigeria was good. All my siblings stayed in Nigeria for so many years before they left for the US. That time, they were young. No be today Nigeria o.
The taxi business is very good. At first, I was working for a hotel. I worked as a shuttle driver for 15 years. From all my entitlement for 15 years, I couldn’t even save 2000 cedis. So, I decided to work on my own. A lady bought me this car, a lady. You do work and pay. She bought it 40,000 and gave it to me 80,000 for three years. I decided to pay it off before the three years. I work both day and night. This is my chamber or self-contained, I sleep inside. I do everything inside. I no dey go out. I used two years and four months to pay the 80,000. I finished paying last year. How did I celebrate? Still, the pressure is there, so how can you celebrate? I have children in the university. My firstborn finished just last month. And the other one is in level 300. So, you have to work hard.
All my customers are foreigners because I always treat them good. The majority of them come from outside Africa. When they are coming, they just call me. “Smith, we are coming. We need this car.” I will go and rent a car. Then I will use maybe two weeks or one week. A lot of the Black Americans come to Accra for holidays. They just come and go. Some buy houses here. Even tomorrow I have some coming, I have to pick them up from the airport. Ah, some of them are from Nigeria. They told me directly that they did DNA and they said they are from Nigeria, but they decided to come to Ghana. I say why. They say no, no, no. They say Nigeria is a very bad country, there is no peace in Nigeria.
If you have small money, you can rent police escorts. You know, those Black Americans, they have money and can pay. They will escort me, everywhere I go. I will pay them. It can be 100 dollars per day. You know, in their country, they won’t get those things. They will do video, show their friends, that they are doing convoy.
Ghanaians love foreigners more than ourselves. If any Ghanaian sees a foreigner, they become happy. They want to treat you special. You know we have a lot of Nigerians here. A lot, especially the ladies. Small small girls – 12, 14, 15. This evening, I will take you there. You will be shocked. They are the ones doing sex work in Accra here. If you ask them, 80 per cent are Nigerians. Some of them are underage, seriously. And they get money. They charge 100 USD and you know 100 USD per night is big money for Nigeria. If they [the traffickers] brought you here, after you pay them finish, then you be on your own.
Life, e no be easy o, bro. As you guys are young, you have to work hard. Me I said I don’t want any of my kids to suffer the way I suffered. No, no, no. That’s why I am giving them good education. My first-born studied Natural Resource Management. And the second girl is in level 300 at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. She wants to be a lawyer. I’m fighting hard, seriously. Because life is what you make it. I just want to make them happy. I’m getting old. Next week, the 18th of October, I will be 60 years old. Could you believe it? But nothing shows, right? I will advise you. If you are not married, just sit down and plan well. You know, women, all of them, their mother is one. If you don’t have money, it is a problem. But if you have money, you become a champion. Man has to suffer to take care of woman.
As narrated by: Smith (Accra, Ghana).
Photography by: Al’amin Umar Marte & Mansur Ibrahim.
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