Final-year medical student turns food vendor amidst ASUU strike

A final year student of Medicine and Surgery in the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Usman Abubakar-Rimi, has turned to a street food vendor due to the prolonged industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).

In an interview with newsmen 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 owned a food outlet and Indomie joint in the Diplomat area in Sokoto metropolis explained that the ongoing extended strike embarked on 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.

“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 the Point of Sale business.

“A plate of food sells from N200 and above depending on the needs of the customer,”  Abubakar-Rimi said.

He added that he owned another shop on Fodio road also in the Sokoto metropolis where he sells men’s and women’s clothing, caps, student bags, and shoes.

Abubakar-Rimi said he did not access any loan or youths empowerment scheme to embark on the businesses.

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“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 obtained 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.

Abubakar-Rimi added that the businesses had a lot of prospects and encouraged youths to think about ways to utilise their time and venture into viable initiatives.

He further explained that when the school resumed, the businesses would be sustained and combined with his academic activities.

He advised students to utilise their free time to engage in businesses, stressing that the present online services provided a lot of opportunities to leverage.

The student, however, called on President Muhammadu Buhari to find a lasting solution to strikes in the interest of youths and the country’s progress.

He further 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 hardest on all categories of Nigerians.