Auwal Tukur Sheka, a middle-aged Kano State resident, said he meets his family’s upkeep by emptying neighbours’ latrines.
The self-employed sanitation worker told BBC Hausa he receives N5,000 for dredging a drum of faeces from latrine pits and soakaways.
Sheka has been doing this for the past 25 years and he finds it pleasant.
“I feel comfortable doing this work to earn a living even though people around my neighbourhood stigmatise me,” Sheka, a father of nine and husband of one, said.
“Some people don’t want to exchange pleasantries with me because of this work,” he added. “They think that shaking hands with me is akin to coming in direct contact with excreament.”
BBC Hausa reports that Sheka uses traditional method to dredge latrin pits and soakaways for a long time.
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Sheka explained that he has an edge over contemporary sewage collectors because of his ability to penetrate every nook and cranny of ancient Kano city.
“I enjoy acceptance because it is not every household owner that can afford to engage the services of modern waste collectors and their trucks cannot easily move within narrow corridors of inner Kano city,” he said.
