Peter Anosike
Last Sunday gas explosion that shook the city of Lagos down to its foundation has left behind tales of misery, anguish and pain.
Among the hardest hit are traders in the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, who are still picking their bits and pieces and trying to get back to business.
A visit to the complex by Sunday Sun showed that artisans are doing their best to rehabilitate buildings that were heavily impacted by the explosion which happened few hundred yards away from the international shopping malls.
All the market leaders interviewed said that what they lost were monumental.
According to them, if the loss is to be quantified, it would run into billions of naira.
Speaking while giving account of the destruction in his market, the President of African Tyre Village, Lagos International Trade Fair complex, Alhaji Issa Mohamed Akanbi, said that over 95 per cent of the shops in the market were affected.
He disclosed that all the plazas and even their newly commissioned secretariat were badly damaged.
He said that they had to suspend trading on Monday to enable them put the market in order.
His words: “I was taking my weekend rest on Sunday morning and I usually put my phone on silence. When I woke up, I saw about 16 missed calls. Most of the calls came from the Chief Security Officer of the market and some of our executives. I called the Security Officer to know why he was calling.
“He told me of the gas explosion. I gave instruction that the gate should not be opened to anybody until I get there on Monday morning. I also told my executives to be there by 8:00a.m. However, I got to the market before all of them. On getting there, I was very sad because over 95 per cent of the shops in the market were destroyed. All the plazas in the market, except one was affected. Our newly commissioned secretariat was shattered. I could not even go to my office because broken glasses were everywhere. I went and told the traders that were waiting at the gate to give me and my executive 1hour to discuss and get back to them.
“After going round the market, we decided to suspend trading for the day so that we could at least put things in order. The property that we lost are worth over N50 million.”
He, therefore, appealed to the Lagos State government to come to their aid.
He said that going by the hard biting economy, there is nothing much they could do.
“I want to use this opportunity to commend the Executive Director of Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, Chief (Mrs) Lucy Ajayi for her prompt response to the situation. She came there on that Sunday and went round the complex. She even called to sympathize with me even though her own office was also badly affected. We are appealing to the Lagos State government to please come to our aid,”Alhaji Akanbi pleaded.
Also speaking, the President of Balogun Business Association (BBA), Chief Tony Obih, said that over 300 shops and plazas were damaged by the impact of the gas explosion.
He claimed that the loss of the BBA ran into hundreds of millions of naira.
He said that he is hanging about because their ultra-modern secretariat, where he has an office was also affected by the explosion.
“Balogun Business Association was badly affected by the explosion. As I am talking to you now I have no office because the secretariat where my office is situated was badly damaged. Many of the plazas and shops were destroyed. If I am to quantify the loss, I would say that it is over N500 million”.
Also, the Chief Security Officer of Balogun Business Association, Prince Chuks Emechebe, said that they were on ground on that Sunday morning to put things in control.
Fake drugs allegation: Onitsha Ogbogwu leaders, traders warn market politicians
…To hold election April 16
Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
The leaders and traders at Onitsha Drug Market Bridgehead (Ogbogwu), Anambra State, have warned the politicians in the market not to play politics with drug business that would eventually undermine long lasting reputation of the market it garnered over the years.
They said that there is no fake products or fake dealers in the market as alleged by some politicians in the market as part of their campaign to discredit the leadership and the market in general.
The traders who debunked the publication in some national dailies by a group known as Concerned Committee of Friends in the market who alleged that some suspected fake drug dealers hijacked the caretaker leadership and currently working against the scheduled election in the market.
Chairman of the market, Mr Anthony Ezioba and the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr MaryChaplet Igboameze at a press briefing called on Governor Willie Obiano and the police to investigate the allegation, as well as make the accusers to produce those fake drug dealers in the market.
Ezioba stated that since 2007 when the market was shutdown by NAFDAC over alleged fake drugs, the market was rid-off of fake drugs and unwholesome products, saying that the leadership of the market since then had maintained sanity without looking at faces or who was involved.
He said that between December 26 and 29, 2019 the leadership of the market handed over nine trucks of expired drugs to the NAFDAC which were willingly brought to their office by the traders due to long lasting agreement and understanding with the agency to sustain sanity in the market.
Ezioba warned politicians in the market to desist from using very sensitive matters as their campaign strategy that would create unnecessary tension in the market, stressing that NAFDAC has waded into the matter to ascertain the truth about fake drug dealers in the market.
On the election, he said that the caretaker executive members were ready for the April 16, 2020 election as the electoral committee members have be constituted to start the process of the election.
The Chairman of Aso-Rock Line Chief Bonaventure Onyia and the Vice Chairman, Mr Kingsley Igwe in their remarks alleged that those who knew that they would not win the election in the market wanted to create tension by raising false allegations to stop the election.
They urged those who were interested in the election to do their campaign and convince the traders on why they should be supported and be voted for, than to dent the image of the entire market, saying that those who raised the alarm of fake drug dealers should proved it and fish them out.
Insecurity, VAT increase bane of our progress –Nnewi industrialist
David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
Growing security challenges across the country has been a source of concern to an Nnewi industrialist in Anambra State, Chief Chika Emelike.
Chief Emenike who is the chairman, Chief Executive Officer of Kotec Group of Company, producers of Tummy Tummy Noodles, also said that the VAT increase has added to their problems.
“The major problem we have in this country is security challenge and it affects us seriously. Many people can’t freely make a move. Those who could move will either run into kidnappers or herdsmen. They operate in the worst way one can imagine in life. They shoot indiscriminately, kill some and kidnap the rest.
“This situation has grounded businesses. Those of us in production or manufacturing sector find it difficult to supply our goods to our customers because of the fear of the unknown. This gives us a serious concern. Our drivers object to going to some areas in the country for fear of being abducted or robbed. And you cannot force them to drive to such notorious areas. That is a very big challenge to us.
“Now, some of the people we send to buy some items from Lagos are most of the time bound to travel by air. All these things affect us negatively,” he said.
He blamed the government for not doing enough in security, saying that money is always budgeted for security but it appears it always goes to the wrong hands.
“I don’t see the reason kidnappers will continue to terrorize a particular location for one year, two years, three years and four years and nothing is done to stop them.
“Are herdsmen and ordinary touts who are called kidnappers above government? If you want to go to Port Harcourt now, for instance, you begin to monitor the suitable time to do that. Every day buses are waylaid and passengers are robbed and kidnapped. Some are killed.
“If you are traveling to Aba, it is the same story. There are places and points you will get and it will appear as if crime is the occupation of people of that area. Youths and elders in that area are into kidnapping.
“So, government is supposed to know what to do about this situation. You can only see government in action when a government official falls a victim. At that time some people will be sent outside the country for training and when they return you see them in action and the government official will be rescued while the suspects are arrested.
“The security situation is so bad that when you seek a visa to travel to another country, they will think you want to run away from your own country. And some of these things happen as if some people are targeted. We are shown on the social media how people are being beheaded and some young ones are shot dead. There is problem. Government should work harder to ensure the security of life and property of every Nigerian,” he said.
On the issue of VAT increase, he that many factories are being closed down, as he said: “This VAT increase has come when minimum wage has been fixed at N30,000. And some state governments have not even agreed to pay the minimum wage.
“Those who have started paying receive ovation. But this amount is just the price of a bag of rice. You paid someone N30,000 as minimum wage and at the same time increased VAT. Does it make sense? That is the end of discussion. Nothing else can be said again. You give someone something with your right hand and take it back with your left hand.
“So, the issue of VAT is affecting not only the business operators, but the masses as well. That policy decision, as it were, is to end everything production in Nigeria. A trader sells according to how much he buys his goods. If a bag of rice is N50,000 a trader can buy it and resell at N51,000. If anyone wants to buy, he can buy.
“But in production a lot of factors are put into consideration. You must pay your workers and all of that. As you interview me now, you can observe that our generators are running because electricity supply is nothing to write home about. All these things are problems.”
We don’t sell unwholesome meat in Nnewi –Okafor
David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
The Chairman of Agboedo Main Market Butchers Association, Nnewi, Anambra State, Mr Kirian Okafor at the weekend absolved his members of the rumour making the rounds in the industrial community that butchers secretly slaughtered unwholesome cows and sold the meat to unsuspecting buyers.
Mr Okafor said it had been the practice of his association to make sure that every single cow to be slaughtered at the market must be inspected by veterinary officers deployed from the Nnewi Local Government Council on a daily basis.
He said that rumours also had it that cows injected with killer drugs from the North were slaughtered and sold to the public which he described as mischievous rumours that were unfounded.
He vowed that no cow would ever be slaughtered by the association, if it was not certified fit for human consumption by the veterinary officers.
He noted that the only headache his association had was the freedom allowed unregistered butchers who he confirmed engaged in the practice of killing cows at unapproved and unhygienic locations in Nnewi with impunity and brought to the streets to sell.
He said that the Nnewi North Council had made an announcement banning meat hawking to see if the illegal butchers could be stopped.
He gave an instance of a recent incident in Nnewi where a butcher allegedly slaughtered a cow sacrificed at a shrine and brought the same to public for sale.
He said only a timely intervention of his association which invited the police saved the situation “otherwise unsuspecting meat consumers would have bought off the entire meat,” disclosing that the police later seized the whole meat for destruction.
He explained that the association was not given the power to arrest illegal butchers, saying it could do so if empowered by the government to flush them out.
On how the butchers had been coping in the area of supply given the security challenges at the Northern Nigeria through which they get their supplies, Okafor said it had been a difficult experience for them since they could not easily travel to their source of supply.
He explained that most of their supplies came from Central Africa, Niger Republic, Cameroun and the cows should pass through the North before getting to the buyer in the East “and those Northern areas are volatile.” He expressed worry that some of the butchers were at the verge of leaving the business because of difficulty in getting supply in addition to problem of foreign exchange to buy from those countries.
Buying secondhand tyres is signing death warrant – Maduchukwu, Association of Nigeria Tyre Marketers scribe
Peter Anosike
The General Secretary, Association of Nigeria Tyre Marketers, Africa Tyre Village, Lagos International Trade Fair Complex, Christian Maduchukwu has warned those who have formed the habit of buying second-hand tyres to desist from it.
According to him, the reason was because most of the time, the rubber and wires in second-hand tyres are very weak which make it dangerous for vehicles.
He said that every tyre has expiry date, adding that those buying second-hand tyres may not know the age of the tyres and that may lead to fatal accidents since every car in motion is as good as its wheels.
He said that those who are buying second-hand tyres are following the adage which says, ‘penny wise, pound foolish’ because there are very affordable brand new tyres in the market.
He pointed out that while every other thing in a vehicle could be managed, tyres should not.
Maduchukwu, however, dispelled the rumour of fake tyres in the market, saying that instead of fake tyres, what is obtainable in the tyre market is expensive and cheap tyres, explaining that the difference is that the expensive tyres last longer than the cheaper ones.
The scribe of the Association of Nigeria Tyre Marketers said that they have been carrying on tyre enlightenment with relevant agencies like the Federal Roads Safety Corps, Standards Organization of Nigeria and others so that Nigerians would know more about tyres.
He said that their major challenge is that the road that is leading to the market is bad and this is hindering many people from going there.
He said that the association is still regretting the exit of Dunlop and Michelin from Nigeria, saying that if they had been here, the dealers would not be going through harrowing experiences before they bring tyres into the country.