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Eka Street is located off Ikot Ekpene road, just behind the
University of Uyo main campus and directly opposite Udi
Street in Uyo.
While some would say the street is known to have dangerous
spots that harbour miscreants, others would argue that it is
known more in the positive context - the headquarters of
suya in Akwa Ibom.
Whichever side of the argument one belongs, Eka Street
remains the largest suya home in Uyo and in Akwa Ibom as a
whole.
It harbours hundreds of Hausa suya dealers and proves a
convenient location for the trade since it is located in the
heart of the state's capital. Fawa - the raw meat - is
dispatched from here to other spots in the city where they
are roasted into suya.
Suya is one beef delicacy common among the young an old in
Nigeria. To many, an outing without suya on the menu list is
terribly incomplete.
If there is one trade most popular with the Hausa people in
Nigeria, it is the suya trade. The Hausas constitute 90% of
those in this line of business nationwide. It is a trade
readily established anywhere there is a concentration of the
Hausa folks.
Here is Akwa Ibom, the business is hugely practiced by the
Hausa community amongst other trades like money exchange,
tailoring etc.
According to the Hausa community leader is the state, Alhaji
Hassan Sadauki, suya arrived this part of Nigeria as far
back as the 1960s with the gradual settlement of the Hausas
in Uyo.
“Before, we are at Aka road where we have the UBA bank now.
It used to be called 13th Brigade during the military
regime. We latter moved to Eka Street. We left Eka after a
while permanently for the suya people so that it becomes
their headquarters. We now have sub-spots in the city like
the one in Udi street here” Alh. Sadauki explained.
The Nama (cow) is imported into the state from the northern
part of the country from where it finds its way into Eka
street.
Amazingly, the suya profession is not an all-comers
profession as it appears. It is one that calls for specialty
in skills and close observance of rather strict professional
ethics.
A professional Fawa man (suya dealer) is one that must have
learnt the trade “right from birth” and whose “parents or
grandparents must have done the trade”. Little wonder the
expertise displayed by these Fawa men in handling and
preparing the meat.
Also, the Islamic tenet directly plays a positive role in
the preparation of this special Northern-Nigeria originated
delicacy. For example, an average Hausa Nama dealer would
not sell or prepare for consumption any dead cattle which
were not killed by slaughtering.
“If I buy a cow or goat I'm to slaughter to prepare suya, if
before the slaughtering of the cow it happens to die of
sickness or accident or whatever without being slaughtered
so that the blood is forced out, that animal will not be
used for consumption” Sadauki enthused.
It is considered as sinful before Allah to venture into
dealing with “unhygienic meat”
Eka Street, over the years, has served as host to some of
the Fawa men who migrate here all the way from the North to
carry out their trade. They are usually under the custody of
the Fawa leader in Akwa Ibom State, Alhaji Mohamadu - the
Sakin Fawa of Akwa Ibom.
Interestingly, professionalism in the suya trade is made to
tower above the practitioner's age.
The trade could be very lucrative especially at times when
there is no cattle scarcity as there is now.
The various suya parts are prepared such that their tastes
are appreciated differently by the consumer. They range from
the Kaynciki (the intestinal parts), the Tsokan (the flesh)
to the Tozon Nama (hunch) and have their various ways of
being prepared.
For the many customers who insist on jara for every stick of
suya bought, they should understand that even the Fawa trade
has seasons of bloom and gloom.
Sadauki said “This very period, we lack animal, we lack
cattle so there is not much for consumption so that it makes
the meat to be very expensive. You can find someone doing
the business and not even gain anything but to keep
customers. The business itself is unfavorable at this time”.
This is evident even in the market. A kilo of beef that used
to cost N200 now cost N300 and above.
There are a number of reasons that may be behind this. Since
the cattle are being brought in from the north, the weather
condition may have been a serious constraint to movement.
There is also relatively lack of sufficient grazing in the
state to rear enough of the cattle needed for the teeming
population of the state.
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A twerp in Antwerp
Once betrayed a friend.
In his espionage-
He thought himself a shrewd.
Sapient of mental imbalance!
Flibbertigibbet was he and,
A twit.
… he thought himself a 'brain'.
Genius of corruptible wit!
Feather brain was he and,
A nitwit.
A cog in the wheel of history:
He thought he made a name.
Pigmy of itsybitsy intellect!
Itsywitsy he lived and,
A twirp
… he thought himself a man.
Primate of misanthropic colouration!
Laughing stock he lived and,
A thwart.
Spilling friendly blood
Is courting insomnia;
Caught in common cold
Defect in commonsense.
- Okodio |
