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Fred Ezeh
Traders in corn and other related foods seem to have taken strategic locations in Abuja, thus making themselves available to customers that love the seasonal staple food.
Not minding the fact that they deface Abuja city and generate waste, the traders have continued to receive impressive patronage from Abuja residents.
They prepare the corn in different ways to gain the attention of residents . It could be cooked or roasted, and taken with pear or coconut.
Daily increase in number of hawkers have become a source of concern to officials of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), who moves round the city everyday chasing and arresting the ones within their reach.
The traders seem to have found a good spot at Abuja-Nyanya Road where large number of them, mostly young men, has taken over the road corridor to do their business in a unique way.
Interested motorists are compelled to pull off the busy road to patronise either cooked or the roast corn and continue their journey. During evening rush hours, workers seem to relief in the corn 🕳 as they drive back home.
The case is same at other major streets and markets in Abuja. Some women have carved locations for themselves at Mabushi, Abuja, where they carry out the business. Those who sell cooked corn bring them from home and hawk them from one location to another.
One of the women at Mabushi, Grace, told Daily Sun that corn business is seasonal, and there was need for them to make good use of the season before it’s too late.
She said most of them at Mabushi are Abuja indigenes and they use the business to sustain themselves and their families, having lost most of their ancestral property to government: “The few portion of land left for me is where myself and my family members farm. We start with corn. After we harvest it, we plant beans. The returns we make from the corn business have been helpful to us and our family.
“Almost everyday, we are forced to part with some money for the AEPB. And they are in different groups. One group could come in the morning, others could come in afternoon. They asked for corn and money. When we try to resist them, they would threaten to arrest and seize our goods.”
The story of Grace and other women at Mabushi, is similar to that of the traders at Nyanya Road. They have become resilient in their quest to make ends meet. AEPB officials often pay unscheduled visits to the location to chase them away and destroy their property but they returne few hours after to continue their business.
Road traffic officials also took action against them, due to the fact that some of their customers would park on the road to make purchases, and that, most often, worsen the traffic situation on the road. One of them, Surajo Adamu, told our correspondent that they are being disturbed and exploited by state officials that never care about them nor provided alternative source of livelihood for them.
He explained that most of them collected the raw corn on credit and make returns after sales: “But each time we are visited by AEPB officials, we run at lost because they either destroy our goods or take them away.”
A motorist and a customer, Ikechi Ohaa, said he loves roasted corn and he hardly take off his eyes on them each time he come across one especially fresh and soft ones. He said, in most cases, he drives from Asokoro to a particular location in Abuja to buy the corn: “You know it’s seasonal. So I want to enjoy it as much as I can within this period of its availability.”
Another customer, Funke, said she prefers cooked corn and she eats it virtually everyday except in some rare occasions.
Spokesman, AEPB, Muktar Ibrahim, said the allegation of extortion against its task force officials has been a source of concern to the management: “We received lot of complaints about this, and many of the convicted officials have been disengaged and more would go soon.
“There will always be bad eggs in any institution like ours or profession. It then beholds on Nigerians to assist us fish out the corrupt people so we can punish them adequately.” He encouraged the affected persons to always come forth with evidences to justify the allegations: “AEPB will protect their identity, investigate the matter and administer necessary punishment.”
Another official of AEPB who pleaded anonymity, confessed that there is significant rise in number of women and youths that enter Abuja city on daily basis to sell corn.
But notwithstanding, AEPB has increased its workforce and deployed them to strategic locations to discourage the activities of the corn traders:
“There’s no doubt that Nigerian economy is not favourable to all. But that is not the reason for us to allow people deface and destroy Abuja, which is one of the best city in Nigeria and Africa for now.
“We have continued to encourage hawkers to restrict their actions and trade to some satellite towns where they are at liberty to do such businesses with little or no reaction from AEPB.”
