Called to be a vulcanizer

With her well-endowed physique, Elizabeth Kokoro, 35, could easily pass for a trader in any one of Lagos's major markets. But she is Akute junction, Ogun State's, claim to fame. This is where the mother of three has gauged, mended, and inflated tyres for four years.

"It's God's will for me to be a vulcanizer," she says. "Before you lay your hands on anything, just pray. Ask if it's the will of God or not. I loosen the nuts, jack the vehicle up, remove the tube, and check where it's leaking. I do everything, and I fix it back."

Revelations

Mrs. Kokoro's father, Peter Omiyale, the pastor of Christ Apostolic Church, Paul Avenue, Ojodu, Berger, says he enrolled his daughter as an apprentice with a roadside vulcanizer after receiving a revelation from God to do so in 1992. According to him, she had not passed the Junior School Certificate Examination (JSCE), and the message had been clear and unmistakable.

"God told me he wants his glory to manifest in her life through the path that he has chosen for her," Mr. Omiyale says.

But his daughter was not impressed with her father's claim. She kicked against her proposed apprenticeship, hoping that her father would change his mind. He did not.

"Initially, I disagreed with him," she remembers. "Even my mother did not accept immediately, but after we prayed on it, we both accepted it."

Auto shop

Mrs. Kokoro spent three and a half years learning the art of mending vehicle tyres. She also learnt how to charge car batteries during her apprenticeship as her teacher was also into the business of charging batteries. After her initial training, Mrs. Kokoro moved on to Ejua Limited, Berger Market, Lagos, for additional training in making and assembling batteries.

"I can build a good battery if I have the material," she says.

Mixed reactions

According to this preacher's daughter, who admits that she once beat up boys in school, she gets mixed reactions from male and female customers. She says she gets compliments and encouragement from women, but many men seem to have a problem with a female vulcanizer.

"Some will ask: ‘Can this fat woman do this job?'" she says. "Sometimes, when my husband is here helping me out, they think it's his business, and I'm the one helping him out."

Joseph Apata, a commercial driver on the Akute-Lambe route in Ogun state, says Mrs. Kokoro is good at her job, and fixes tyres just like any male vulcaniser he knows. He admits he was not sure that she could do the work.

"She does the job well," Mr. Apata says. "I have known her for some time, and I know she is qualified to do the job."

Mrs. Kokoro believes that if more women can become vulcanizers, it will help reduce the number of prostitutes in the community.

"Some women say: ‘It's a man's work, I don't have power," she said. "There is no power in it; it's just understanding."

So convinced is she about this that she says her two daughters would have her support if they ever choose to follow in her footsteps. The only change she would make, she says, is to tell them to get an education and modernize the profession as best as they can because that would make it more profitable.

"The gain is more than what you get selling provisions," she says. "When I get a better place, I will do great things with this profession."

Dream girl

Things are not always easy for Mrs. Kokoro, and she hopes to own a one-stop shop for motor vehicles someday. She would also like to acquire more modern equipment which will make her job easier and more efficient. She believes that the craft is specialised and should not be a roadside occupation. So she envisions leaving her Akute community, where she says business can be slow, for a prime area in Lagos.

"I want better equipment and a bigger place-a place where motorists can get their tyres fixed and their batteries charged," she says. "I will also like to teach so many other people to fix tyres, especially women. I will have pride doing that."

Her father adds that even though his revelation from God did not say that the journey would not be rough, he knows that "the future will be bright."