Vicky, pictured below, started selling
newspapers when she was nine years old and
now in Junior Secondary, JSS III in WAPI, she
makes on the average N500 and N600 proceeds
daily from the venture. She even had Cross
river state governor, Gov Ayade as one of her
customers.
[IMG]https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TMXNSLznCn0/WKP6sEakTXI/AAAAAAAC36Q/zFUgH_OQcxklGKwBlyUUEJ782l-BKkV0wCLcB/s1600/vendor-12.jpg[/IMG]
Vicky told Vanguard:
[center]"I also gave the regular (daily) for
N50.00 and sports newspaper for N20.00
to those who came here to read and
return the paper and still sold the paper
to those who wanted to buy.”[/center]
She said her school runs two sessions and she
attends the afternoon session, which affords
her time to sell newspapers in the morning
before leaving for school.
[center]Many prominent people live in this area,
commissioners, House of Assembly
members, judges, businessmen and even
the present governor of our state before
he became governor, Prof. Ben Ayade,
used to buy papers from me.”[/center]
On how she gets the papers to sell, Vicky said
she wakes up at 5.30 every morning and heads
to Bassey Duke Street, the newspaper
distribution point to collect the day’s papers
when they arrive from Port Harcourt and Asaba
every morning and by 8.00 am, she was already
at her stand where some customers were
waiting for her to arrive with the day’s papers.
When there’s breaking news…
[center]"If there is a breaking news, before I
get here, people are waiting for me, but
some days, especially during the rainy
season, because of the bad roads,
papers arrive here late, except during
weekends whether bad road or no bad
road, the van drivers do manage to get
here on time since the papers are
produced early,” she said.[/center]
What does she use the money for or does she
hand it to her parents? “No,” the fair-skinned
girl retorted, adding that she used the money to
meet her needs in school and pay her fees,
except when there was urgent need at home
and her parents had no money, then she could
help out. Her words:
[center]"I use the money to meet my school
needs, but sometimes, I help at home
when my parents ask me to, may be they
have no immediate cash at that time.”[/center]
She said she was yet to decide if she would
continue being a vendor after her education, but
for now, the business was quite lucrative.
