**COMMERCIAL TOUTS, DRIVERS AND CONDUCTORS** The scorching Lagos sun blazed, breaking sweat from unwashed and smelly bodies. The bus station was chaotic; the air of the afternoon seemed to stand still as the putrefying smell of urine and dried human faeces assailed the nostrils. The loud wailings of hawkers and passengers in a rush to get out of the bedlam added to the chaos. Inside the bus station, a long, winding line of commercial buses, parked bumper-to-bumper, competed for space with humans. At intervals, a rickety bus, filled with sweaty and forlorn looking passengers driven by dare-devil drivers would leave the station with screeching tyres throwing mud everywhere. Enraged passengers would hurl insults at each departing driver. Area boys, in their bid to extort money from the conductors would sometimes unleash violence to enforce compliance. One area boy who stood monitoring the buses looked particularly menacing. A big wrap of marijuana dangled between his lips. There were visible scars of injuries sustained in the often violent territorial battles to gain control of motor parks. I observed him closely. His left ear was missing. Half of his dentition was gone. They probably have been knocked off by Tyson-like blows in one of his many skirmishes with conductors and rival gangs. A long deep scar ran from his skull to the back of his neck. His badly battered nose gave and the spiralling smoke from his marijuana gave a chilling, grotesque look. Before a bus departs, a conductor will have to pay a mandatory loading fee. But before this, he would first have to pay homage to a group of area fathers sitting in one corner of the park. They smoked Indian hemp freely. The theatrics of the encounter is in itself a spectacle to watch. In this case, the conductor approached the group. In a flash, he raised his two hands above his head. One of his legs permanently suspended in the air. As he staggered like a drunk on the same spot, he sang the praises of the area boy and begged him to allow him drop his raised hands and leg. The area boy ignored him. Later, pacified by his effusive praises, he looked at the conductor sternly, shadow boxed for a few seconds and warned him to always pay up or risk being beaten. Grateful to be let off, the conductor rushes off to join the moving bus.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 20:55:27 +0000