One of the misconceptions Lagosians have about mechanics is that the recession has no effect on our business. They believe whether or not there’s a recession cars will always have a fault and malfunction, which means more money for us. But this is completely false. Whenever a customer brings his car to our workshop and we bill him, most times they say they can’t afford to pay which usually results in them abandoning the car in our workshop for weeks.

For every 10 customers, at least 6 say they don’t have money to fix their cars. For example the car to my right, all it needs is a new shock absorber but it has been sitting here for almost 3 months because the owner can’t afford to pay for it. So yes, right now most mechanics are not in a good place financially. We’re no longer making what we used to. But we’re hopeful. The economy seems to be improving and we’re hoping things well return to normal before the end of the year.