Laurent Fourchard

Daniel E. Agbiboa’s book They Eat Our Sweat: Transport Labor, Corruption, and Everyday Survival in Urban Nigeria explores the world of drivers of minibuses (danfo) and motorcycles (okada) in Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria. 

Agbiboa is assistant professor of African and African American studies at Harvard University. His research interests include the informal economy, urban change, mobility and youth politics.

The book describes the everyday interactions between the drivers, their conductors, union members regulating the garages through which they pass daily, and police officers. The drivers work 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week, but go home without much revenue after paying daily “fees” or “dues” to bus owners, police officers and union members.

To gather materials for the book, Agbiboa worked as a conductor in a minibus for several months. He witnessed everyday forms of exploitation of these drivers by the police and