It was obvious she couldn’t hold it anymore. Her voice went high and low, like that of an orchestra. This was not who she was, she said.
The logs of timber from there are said to be usually transported through the water from the hinterlands of Bayelsa, Rivers, Ondo, and Delta states and they reportedly take between three and 12 months to arrive in Lagos. The salted seawater is said to prevent the logs of timbre from getting rotten while being transported to Okobaba. .
She said, “COVID-19 has frustrated my business. The situation is worse than you can imagine. The pandemic has totally collapsed my business. Ask everyone else at Okobaba Sawmill; they will tell you similar tales of woe. Obviously, Hassan’s business downturn is having a toll on her, leaving her frustrated. Sadly, she said she had informed her children not to bother about resuming schooling when schools finally reopen because she could no longer afford school fees payment due to her financial condition.
It was a similar tale of woe for Mrs Funke Omosowoni, an Ondo State indigene, who also said she inherited the trade from her parents. She added that even if she wanted to start all over again and purchase new woods, she said had no wherewithal to buy woods due to inflation. “During the lockdown, I spent almost my entire savings on feeding my family. When I almost ran out of my savings, I had to use my car as a taxi, transiting between Ikorodu and Mile 12. Most of our members at the sawmill also spent all their savings on feeding during the lockdown. I’m close to all of them and they tell me their sad stories.
“So our future is blurry for now. Maybe the economy would be restored to normal. But I’m afraid it might not be so because since I was born, I have never seen the Nigerian economy improved. Rather it worsens each passing year and decade. I’ve really lost hope in any economic recovery,” Quadri said.Ear-piercing sounds reverberated across the environment as he placed a long rough wood into a stationary green planing machine at his workshop.
“COVID-19 has really dealt with us sawmillers, we are barely surviving,” he said. “Most of our customers have not been coming to patronise us because their businesses have also been affected by the pandemic. Everything is ‘dry.’