Here is mr. Dominic busy talking through his handset.
Business in Nigeria has changed a lot with the advent of the mobile phone. It has become much easier to arrange logistics and deal with customers. It comes at a price however. First, costs are very high for most people. Mr. Dominic spends between 10.00 – 15.000 nairas a month on mobile phone use (approx. 60 – 95 euros). One of his colleagues we spoke to – running a retail shop with many different customers – even claimed to pay up to 30.000 naira a month! And another cost is that while the mobile phone gives individual freedom to communicate and engage in business, it also places a heavy burden on ones shoulders, since family and friends are now constantly calling for help and support, even when far away. So mobile telephone technology in the west-African context seems to paradoxically promote individual possibilities and entrepreneurship and a discourse of modernity, while at the same time being a medium that provides possibilities for stronger reliance on ones social circle and strengthens tradition.
We’ve met some Fulani herdsmen out in the bush in the village of Shonong, district of Bachit, Plateau State. Ab has been there for a couple of days now and has managed to get aquainted with quite a few people already. They are kind of wary towards strangers. The first family we dropped into were shy and distant, since the head of the family was out since dawn (with his cattle?). Quite an awkward situation arose when one of the younger men yelled to the more curious younger boys and women to get away from us. The second group we met was way more friendly and receptive. The main man was there and silently approved all this, it seemed. Beautiful landscape too. Seems like great place to work!
