Ex-Okada Riders Embrace Secondhand Clothes Business

The ban on the operation of
commercial motorcycles in Jos and Bukuru in Plateau  State by the state government has driven the large population of the ex-riders into second hand clothes sale business.
Mr Mustapha Bako, Chairman of the Second Hand Clothes Dealers Association in Jos,  told  journalists on Thursday that the ex-riders had taken over the market in Jos.
Bako said the business had been “practically taken over by the ex-cyclists”, saying that the business was very profitable, easy to run and required less cash.
According to him, more people entered the business after the cyclists were banned from operation in the metropolis in 2011.
Bako said the former riders took to the second hand clothes business because it was not capital intensive to start.
He said they could not afford to acquire the newly-introduced tricycles to replace the motorcycles because the cost was prohibitive to them.
According to him, only few of them can afford to buy tricycles as commercial transport operators, while the larger number of them resorted to dealing in used clothes.
“As you know, selling second hand clothes does not require much capital; with as low as N5, 000, one can start,’’ he said.
Bako called on the government to encourage the growth of the business by providing conducive environment for the traders.
He said some of the traders, due to their low capital, had to hawk their wares in the open, but needed shelter during the wet season.