60-year-old Nigerian Liya’u Sa’adu has been sleeping under a bridge in the country’s biggest city, Lagos, for 30 years.
According to a BBC report, Sa’adu, 60, has called the space under the bridge his residence for 30 years, and now considers himself a “guardian” for numerous other homeless people who have also now sought shelter there.
He monitors the activities surrounding the bridge, advising newcomers on ways to survive in Lagos, a town prone to crime and drug dealing by many young individuals.
RELATED STORIES
“I am 60 and there are young people who came here a few months ago or a few years ago. I see it as my responsibility to guide them, it is so easy to lose track here in Lagos, especially for young people because there is no family to watch their steps”, he told the BBC.
Sa’adu speaks the Hausa language, identical to many others who have sought shelter under the bridge.
In 1994, he arrived in Lagos from a small town of Zurmi in north-western Zamfara state, leaving many of his friends in search of a better place. What he found may not have been what he dreamt of, yet he eventually adapted to the situation and decided to make the best of it.
Sa’adu has now managed to secure a mattress, bedding, a mosquito net, and a wooden cabinet to set up his living area beneath the bridge.
The location beneath the bridge is called “Karkashin Gada,” meaning “Under the Bridge” in the Hausa dialect.
During his 30-year stay in Lagos while sleeping under the Bridge, Sa’adu has fed on jobs such as shoe-shining and picking up metals from streets and shops for recycling.
He balances sharing his spoils with his family back at the town of Zurmi, and fending for himself, earning an average of 5,000 Naira($3) a day.
It might be far from great for Sa’adu, but he is making beyond the “extreme poverty threshold of $1.90 a day and is not deterred from finding his own place to rent in the days to come.
Nigeria’s economic situation is a tough one for its low income earners and the poor, yet Sa’adu remains resilient under the Bridge, hoping that a better day arrives as he navigates his way through the day-to-day struggles in Lagos.
