IBADAN, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- Usman Abubakar-Rimi, a Medicine and Surgery final year student in the Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, has appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to find a lasting solution to the impending ASUU strike in Nigeria.
The medical student made the appeal while narrating how he became a street food vendor due to the prolonged industrial action by University lecturers.
Abubakar-Rimi confirmed this development in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Sokoto.
Abubakar-Rimi said he conceived the initiative in order to engage in productive living as the strike forced students to become redundant.
Abubakar-Rimi, who owns a food outlet and Indomie joint in the Diplomat area of Sokoto metropolis, explained that the ongoing extended strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities gave him the full opportunity.
He explained that he ventured into full-scale food selling in the last two months and described the business as lucrative.
He said: “I hired a shop, employing eight people manning tea and indomie joints, selling bottled and canned drinks, masa, rice and beans, pepper soup and meat along with a Point of Sells business.
A plate of food sells from N200 and above depending on the needs of the customer.”
Abubakar-Rimi explained that he owns another shop on Fodio Road, also in the Sokoto metropolis, where he sells men and women’s clothing, caps, student bags and shoes.
He said: “I am always happy to see that I have become an employer of labour.
“As at present, I have engaged 10 persons in the two shops.
“I rely on the shops for handsome incomes because I don’t ask my parents for any money in spite of the fact that schools were closed.”
Abubakar-Rimi said he did not access any loan or youths empowerment scheme to embark on the businesses.
He said: “However, I utilised the opportunity of COVID-19 lockdown, during the pandemic, and started an egg and chicken distribution business, where I had made contacts with restaurants for the supply.
“I also obtain the eggs and chickens from large scale farms from small amounts to higher quantity suppliers.
“From the proceeds I started the two businesses.”
Abubakar-Rimi added that the businesses had a lot of prospects and encouraged youths to think of the ways to utilise their time and venture into viable initiatives.
He further explained that when school resumes, the businesses would be sustained and combined with his academic activities.
“I designed a sustainability plan where registers were opened for maximum record keeping, supply chain and other management procedures,” Abubakar-Rimi said.
According to him, the advantages of online platforms ensured that they run and manage the businesses properly, using cell phones, which facilitate contacts.
He added: “With the lucrative opportunities provided by the businesses, I envisage to continue with the ventures even after my graduation.
“When I become a Medical Doctor, I envisage to engage in work that will not be too time consuming because at present, I have begun to lose hope on a salary earning job.
“I want to establish a pharmacy, work in a private hospital as well as engage in private initiated-businesses relevant to my profession.”
Abubakar-Rimi advised students to utilise their free times to engage in businesses, stressing that the present online services provided a lot of opportunities to leverage on.
The student appealed to the lecturers to consider the students’ plights and resolve the issue with some offers by the Federal Government as the effects of strikes bite hard on all categories of Nigerians.