Nigerian truck drivers who have survived a
journey through Boko Haram territory relax out
of the sun under the porch of a building.
Most of those in the group drive tankers of
petrol, diesel or kerosene to and from Maiduguri
– the city at the heart of the Islamist insurgency
in the north-east and the capital of Borno state.
Gathered at the Ogere Trailer Park, about 50km
(30 miles) north of Lagos, they say they have all
been affected by the six-year conflict.
“We are all concerned about the situation, we
have all lost relatives, wives and children are
kidnapped and houses have been burnt,” says
Atiku Abubakar.
Speaking in Hausa, he and his colleagues
describe the perils of the route to and from
Lagos.
It takes two and a half days when a tanker is
empty and four and a half days when full.
They say it is dangerous enough without the
militants to contend with as there are so many
potholes.
“Ten of my colleagues who ply this route have
been killed in the last three weeks,” says Mr
Abubakar.
“The militants stopped them and cut off their
heads with an electric chainsaw and burned the
trucks,” he says.
“Boko Haram is usually only interested in
commandeering smaller vehicles, sometimes the
fighters will take the lorries, but most of the time
they burn them.”
Another truck driver chips in to say that if a
driver looks “powerful” he may be kidnapped and
conscripted as a fighter, but anyone looking
“weak” will definitely “lose his head”.
“If you reach Damaturu by five in the afternoon,
you dare not continue on the final leg to
Maiduguri,” he says, explaining that a driver may
not manage the last 130km before the sun sets,
when they would be most vulnerable to attack.
The drivers tend to work for an owner who has
about 20 tankers – each vehicle also has about
two assistants to help with loading and guarding
the cargo, known as motor boys.
As the drivers and motor boys ease into the
conversation they begin to open up about how
the insurgency has directly affected them.
Driver Trap Bukar says he was in the town of
Bama when it was captured by Boko Haram last
September.
“It started early in the morning. Suddenly they
came. There was shooting, in my presence I saw
four people go down; the soldiers fled,” he says.
He lifts up his shirt to show what look like bullet
scars on his upper torso
“I could tell you many unhappy tales,” he says,
with tears in his eyes.
But he suddenly gets up and leaves the group
and his colleagues say he is too traumatised by
his memories to continue.
Kullima Ali, 18, who has been a motor boy for
four years, says he is now his family’s only bread
winner.
He says it is very difficult to tell the militants
from soldiers, as they dress in camouflage –
with only their eyes visible.
“They stole some food, killed my two brothers
and burned our house in Maiduguri in January
2013,” he says.
“There’s only my mother and my sister now.”
He says he had wanted to go and study science,
but he is unable to afford to continue his
education.
“Many of the drivers have good qualifications,”
says Umar Hussaini, 18, a motor boy who helps
his driver brother.
He introduces me to Ibrahim Abdullahi, 25, a
former university student who had been studying
civil engineering at the start of insurgency.
He has been working as a trucker for the last
five years as there are few other employment
opportunities for young men, especially in the
areas affected by the conflict.
“Yes I am scared, if there was other work I
would find another job,” says Mr Abdullahi.
All the truckers express anger about the six-
week postponement of the 14 February
presidential election and are vocal in their
criticism of President Goodluck Jonathan’s
handling of the conflict.
Some even refer to him as “the chairman of
Boko Haram” – seeing him as complicit in the
group’s growth over the years.
Others say his complicity lies in his neglect of
north-east.
“President Jonathan is just as guilty as those
Boko Haram killers because he has chopped off
all the money to repair the roads,” Mr Abubakar
says.
Life is now a constant financial struggle for
them, he adds.
For each trip, a driver gets a 10,000 naira ($50,
£33) living allowance but this might have to last
for several weeks as he waits at Ogere Trailer
Park for clearance to go into Lagos port to
collect cargo.
Most of the truckers get a monthly salary of
between $100 and $200 and the motor boys
receive $2.50 a day.
“I spent four days in the queue in the traffic to
the port – I haven’t slept for four nights because
I had to watch out for thieves as they remove
parts from the vehicle or steal the gas,” he says.
But he is only taking a short break of a couple of
hours as he is anxious to put the coming
dangers behind him.
“The killings are too much and have been going
on for too long,” says his colleague Mr Abubakar.
“President Jonathan is not doing anything. We
hope he will leave – we want change.”
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