Agazue Fidel Obumnaeme na one of di ova two hundred million Nigeria youths wey dey self employed.
Im dey do fabrication and welding work. Dis fabrication and welding work don make venture into making of tins like industrial gas cookers, ovens, shawarama machines, pop corn machines, dryers and general welding work.
For dis interview with BBC Pidgin, e open up about im journey and plans for di future.
Im early beginning
Agazue Fidel Obumnaeme na 24-year old student of di Federal University of Owerri for Imo state, south east Nigeria.
E be 500 level student wey dey study Soil Science and Technology wedy decide to become welder and fabricator.
Im from Nwangele local goment area for inside Imo State.
Obumnaeme tell BBC Pidgin say im don dey learn dis work from small, sake of say im papa na welder and fabricator.
“Na from childhood na im I don dey follow my papa dey go work, I bin no like am but my papa force me to learn am, now see as I don sabi di work”
My papa no dey work again, na me dey manage di business and I wan take am to di level of exportation, wia oda pipo from oda kontris go come buy from my hand. Even though I dey study soil science na sake of say I wan go University, na Mechanical Engineering bin dey my mind” E tok.
Im add say im papa dey happy wit am, and all im dey ask for na financial support to buy plenti materials, rent big shop and fabrication space to make e business stand gidigba.
How e dey use make di gas and oda items
Obumnaeme describe how di gas cookers be, im add say di material wey im dey use fabricate di gas cookers, oven and oda tins, na for Nigeria im dey buy dem.
“Dis my gas cookers wey dey here now na me fabricate dem , e get two gas cookers ontop, e get oven too wey you fit use am bake. You even fit use am dry, for smoking, grilling and barbeque.
Di gas cookers wey I dey do here, all di materials wey I dey use do am, I dey get am locally from here. Dis our own strong pass di foreign ones, di quality of material wey we dey use strong pass dia own, becos dem need to ship dia own so dem dey reduce di quality so dat e no go get too much weight. As you dey reduce di weight of di tin, na di quality you dey reduce, di quality of di Iron. We wey dey here we dey use thick iron dey do am, so dat e go last well-well for pipo wey dey here.
I go like make Nigerians dey buy made in Nigeria goods dem strong kakaraka pass imported ones.” E tok.
Obumnaeme say na two days im dey use make one gas cooker bifor, but wit boys wey im don get now wey dey helep am, na three gas cookers im dey fabricate for one day.
E dey safe?
Di 24 year old tell BBC Pidgin say afta dem use beta iron fabricate di gas cookers, dem dey also make sure say dem follow all di international safety procedures and standards to avoid explosion and disasters.
“We dey still use dat dia safety standard wey dem dey use do dia own for abroad to do our own here, so dat e no go cut you, e no go explode wen you dey use am cook, bake or even dry. We dey use stainless steel for di inside, so dat e no go contaminate di food wen you use am bake, cook or dry.
If we do am finish we go first test am for here to confam say evritin dey okay. Both di leakages we dey test am say e no dey leak from anywia.” E explain.
Obumnaeme say e gas and oda tins im dey fabricate dey cheap, na shikini money im dey sell am so dat Nigerians and oda pipo fit buy from am.
“Dis my gas cooker wey I dey do now, one dey cost N100,000 and na big size also you fit use am bake plenti tins. Na three partitions wey dey inside, e dey cheap pass di big foreign ones of di same size of di one wey I do.
We do am make e dey cheap so dat pipo wey dey area fit still buy am, and we still dey use strong materials take do am, so dat di tin go dey sell well-well, becos na quality be di main tin wen we dey do di work. If I do di work finish den deliver am, I dey still dey call my customers to know how di tin dey work, so any of dem neva report say e get some hazard or explosion.” E tok.
Obumnaeme say im goal na to learn more about di fabrication and welding work to im prove on im skills and also to do di work reach where e go dey export im gas and oda work go obodo oyibo.