Goods, animals & passengers
Ekene's loads are drawn from real Nigerian life — the game's geography is the country's. Goods spawn where Nigeria actually produces them, and the money is in hauling them to where they're wanted: cows ride south from the cattle belt, palm oil rides north, and tomatoes spoil on the way if you dawdle.
Everyday goods
Yams out of the Benue belt and the south. Tomatoes, groundnuts, beans and onions out of the north — the Kano–Kaduna tomato belt, the old groundnut-pyramid country, Sokoto onions. Rice from Kebbi and Abakaliki. Palm oil from the palm belt, fresh fish and prawns off the coast, periwinkle out of the Niger Delta. Electronics out of Computer Village, Alaba, Onitsha and Aba. And the universals that move everywhere: smoked fish, ankara fabric, pharmaceuticals, generators, buckets, firewood, the occasional love letter.
Perishables — tomatoes, vegetables, fresh fish, prawns, periwinkle — pay about a third over the standard rate and expire on a much shorter countdown. Tinned tomatoes, pointedly, are not perishable. That is the point of the tin.
Regional signatures
The primary-school geography layer: things a place is famous for, found only there. Tin and columbite in Jos, coal in Enugu (the Coal City), salt in Abakaliki, iron ore in Okene, bitumen in Akure, brassware in Bida, pottery in Suleja, spare parts in Nnewi (the "Japan of Africa"), leather from the Kano and Sokoto tanneries and from Aba, gold in the Zamfara goldfields, gemstones along the middle belt. Zone-wide: crude oil in the Niger Delta, cocoa in the South West, cotton and gum arabic in the north. The precious ones pay accordingly.
Animals
Alive, so never perishable — but sized. Chickens, ducks, geese, the Tolo Tolo (travels alone; a showpiece bird), parrots and bush babies out of the rainforest belt are small. Goats, rams and pigs are medium — a goat takes one slot, so a Bicycle carries exactly two. The cow (out of the northern cattle belt, riding south) and the Cross River gorilla are large, and need a serious hauler — see who takes the cow. The peacock? Nobody moves a peacock cheaply.
Passengers
The everyday riders of Nigeria: Traders, Tailors, Mechanics, Teachers, Barbers, Farmers, Aunties, Corpers, Carpenters, Market Women, Apprentices, Vulcanisers, Doctors, Tech Sis and Tech Bro, a Judge, an Assistant Madam, and Twins (this is the country of Igbo-Ora, after all). They pay the standard fare and keep an empire honest.
The big names. There is no VIP sticker — the title carries the money. Chiefs, Chairmen, Traditional Rulers, Cash Madams, Market Queens, a Corrupt Judge, a Corrupt Politician, the Nepo Baby, the Afrobeats Star, the Bank Manager, the Slay Queen — and presences it is wisest to simply drive carefully for: the Masquerade, Mami Wata, the Jinn, the Ojuju. The biggest names pay the biggest premiums. (The honest Judge rides standard; the corrupt one is the VIP.)
Concession riders travel at reduced fare, because everyone knows you don't charge a Student, a Pregnant Woman, a Beggar or a Pastor full price — and yes, the Police ride concession too. In the north, the Almajiri ride cheap. And some concession seats carry a heavier truth: the Child Bride, the Child Soldier, the House Girl and the House Boy ride reduced because Ekene notices the children Nigeria moves around. That one is an awareness note, not a joke.
The fare includes not asking questions
Some cargo is VIP cargo. State Secrets leak out of Abuja. The National Cake moves around — everyone wants a slice. Government Loot pays like the jackpot it is, and Snatched Ballots pay well for obvious reasons. A satire of how things move in Nigeria, priced accordingly — alongside a few loads at the other end of the market that nobody pays full price to move (a pothole, for one), best discovered on the road.