Peter Anosike
Fancy and Furniture has acquired the reputation as the bad leg of Alaba International Market because from time, its election has been characterized with violence and bloodshed.
However, the members of the association seem to have grown up because the election that brought the current executive Chairman, Hon. Mbonu, Udochukwu Godfrey was credible, free and fair and this has brought peace and tranquility in the market.
In this interview, Mbonu said that the association because of its strategic location is the gateway to Alaba International Market, adding that whatever affects Fancy and Furniture rubs off on the entire market. Excerpts:
Fancy and Furniture has been notorious for violence, what do you think is the cause?
After I was elected into office, I sat back and tried to find out why our association has been noted with violence. From the research that I conducted, I discovered that a lot of the miscreants that were used by the leaders of the association in the past have quietly infiltrated the market as members and settled down, though without any serious thing that they are doing. You know that a tiger can hardly change its colour. It is this miscreants that are still fomenting trouble in the market. I have made this known to the security agencies like the Police and DSS to assist us in flushing these criminal elements out of the market and they are doing this quietly. The Alaba Amalgamated Task Force also comes on a regular routine check and this is also yielding result. That is why we now have peace in the market. However, there is another group that has formed a Whatsapp group with the intention of spreading wicked and malicious information against the leadership of the market and even the government. The type of fake news that they are spreading has the capacity to cause breakdown of law and order, not only in the market, but in the country as a whole. The elders council has warned them to stop this forthwith and I want to use this medium to let the world know that the message that they are spreading is not the position of Fancy and Furniture Dealers Association or Alaba International Market. I am appealing to the police and the other security agencies to trace, arrest and deal with them decisively.
You have been in office for few months now, what are your achievements?
Well, I started by renovating our secretariat. We have given it a face-lift. We have bought 25KVA generator to power the air conditioners in the secretariat. We have installed CCTV in the secretariat as a way of beefing up the security in the market. We also have in mind to install CCTV in all the strategic places in the market. We have erected new gates to help the night guards and also want to put solar powered lights in all the strategic places to assist the night guards. When we were campaigning, we promised that we would run a transparent and accountable administration and since we come on board, every money that belongs to the association is being paid into the association’s account. These are just a little of the things that we hope to do for our people.
Do you need any assistance from the government?
Yes, a saying has it that to whom much is given, much is expected. Alaba International is the biggest source of revenue for Ojo local government. In fact, Alaba generates over 80 per cent of the revenue of Ojo local government. But we are not getting anything in commensurate to what we are giving. Street traders have made the major road into the market impassable to vehicles. If you ask the street traders to leave the road, they would say that they are paying the local government, the Oba or the Baale, therefore, they would not leave the road. This is affecting our business a lot because it can take you more than three hours to drive from Volkswagen bus stop to Alaba. So, we are appealing to the Council to chase the street traders away from the road. We are also appealing to them to build an industrial borehole for those who are cooking the food that we are eating in the market to avoid outbreak of diseases. There is no clean water in the market .We have a site where it can be located .We are also in need of standard toilets and bathrooms because this is an international market. Another thing is that the drainage behind Fancy and Furniture to Alabarago is filled up. Ojo local government should help us to clean it for free flow of water and other things.
What advice do you have for the traders?
The advice that I have for them is to try to be law abiding. There are people who eat through crisis. They should avoid such people. Election into the executive of Fancy and Furniture has come and gone and those who lost should wait for another election time instead of trying to cause trouble in the market. I want to use this medium to appeal to the police and the DSS to be on the alert for the trouble shooters in the market. We have zero tolerance for crisis in the market. We are very responsible men and women and those who want to be outlaws, the law enforcement agencies should try to be helping us in taking them to where they belong.
Demolition of Katangowa market: Traders count losses, accuse Lagos govt of not giving them notice
…I’s a lie, they were told over 18 years ago –Govt.
Peter Anosike
Traders at the popular Katangowa market in the Abule Egba area of Lagos State have accused the Lagos State government of not giving them pre-information before coming to demolish their stalls in the market.
Recall that men of the Lagos State Task Force on Environment had recently stormed the market with caterpillars and bulldozers and reduced shops, houses and even worship centres around the market to rubbles amidst sorrows and tears by the traders.
The traders who claimed that they were taken by surprise said that they found it difficult to remove the wares in their shops.
Some of the traders who spoke to Sunday Sun denied being aware of the seven-day notice to quit from the market by the state government.
They said that even if there was such notice, it was not passed round the market.
Madam Joy Ifeoma who sells second hand clothes in the market said that the men of the Lagos task force came to the market with malice on their minds.
According to her, the task force came very early in the morning before the traders could open their shops, adding that was the reason, a lot of them could not remove even a pin.
She said that she had been hearing rumours that the state government wanted to demolish the market and after hand it over to computer village.
However, she said that the leadership of the market had been giving them assurances that they are on top of the situation.
She said that if she was aware of the seven-day notice, she would have left before the expiration.
However, the Lagos State government said that the traders were duly informed of the impending demolition.
According to the Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Idris Salako, apart from giving a seven-day notice for the traders to pack their wares and vacate the market, the issue of redeveloping the site started in 2002 when the government informed the residents and traders that it had earmarked the area for future development.
Nkpor Auto Spare Parts traders elect new officers
Eziomume Solomon, Nnewi
The New Auto Spare Parts Traders Association, Nkpor, Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, has finally held their election where they elected officers to pilot the affairs of the market for the next four years.
The election, which was previously slated for January 16, 2020, was postponed due to alleged insecurity, but held on February 6.
The election, which was held at the Bethany House, Onitsha, in the presence of the Commissioner for Trade, Commerce and Wealth Creation, Uchenna Okafor, and the President General of Anambra Markets Amalgamated Traders Association, ASMATA, Ikechukwu Ekwegbalu; produced Elisius Ume-Ozokwelu as president.
Other officers included Ikechukwu Onyegbu, vice president; Uchenna Malobi, secretary; Christopher Okeke, assistant secretary; Ignatius Ezeike, treasurer and Alexander Orji, financial secretary.
Others are Chukwujekwu Nwankwo, public relations officer; Ikechukwu Ikegbunam, welfare officer; Okechukwu Onwudiwe, secular bearer, and Chibuzor Okeke, provost.
Addressing the traders after the election, the commissioner for trade, said that the election was free, fair and credible.
Okafor tasked the officers to maintain peace in the market, while also promising to carry every trader along in their administration.
Also speaking, the ASMATA president general said that the election was held in a conducive atmosphere. Ekwegbalu urged the market executives to use their offices to unite the traders and create avenue for increased revenue generation for the state government.
Boundary booksellers lament exploitation by Ajeromi/Ifelodun council
Peter Anosike
Boundary Booksellers Association, Ajegunle Area, Lagos, the hub of book market in West Africa has lamented the exploitation by Ajeromi/Ifelodun Local Government Area.
According to the association, upon the huge revenue that their members are generating to the council, they are not getting anything in return.
They said that every month, they pay sanitation levies to the council and yet clean the gutters by themselves.
They said as the book hub in West Africa, the council has not thought it fit to build a car park for them.
Their leader, Gladinus Chidozie, said that booksellers in Boundary are not benefiting from the local government in spite of their contribution to it.
He said that the market lacks all the amenities of an international market, adding that customers coming from outside the country are always disappointed when they come to see the state the market is in.
He also said that the government should come to their aid in the area of sanitation and other amenities.
“The truth is that Boundary book sellers market is highly underrated. Here is the book hub in West Africa. Apart from those who come from Kano, Aba, Port Harcourt, people also come from Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroun and other countries to buy books and sell in their countries.
“This makes it an international market. But you don’t see anything in the market in that regard. There is no toilet, the drainages are smelling. There is no park. Even though we pay sanitation levy to the government, most of the times, we clean the drainages by ourselves. I can say that we provide the bulk of the internal revenue for the council, but we are not getting anything in return.”
Insecurity: Our customers now prefer waybills –Obosi Stockfish traders lament
David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
Traders at Stockfish International Market, Obosi, Anambra State have protested high profile security challenges plaguing Nigeria, leading to low trading activities.
President of the market union, Chief Celestine Ezewuru, who stated this in a complaint, blamed the Federal Government for not doing enough to secure lives and property of its citizens.
He said that the primary responsibility of any government must be the protection of lives and property, which he noted had been abandoned.
He was of the opinion that the Anambra State government was trying, but argued that a lot more needed to be done in collaboration with the local vigilantes.
He noted that even though the state government under Governor Willie Obiano’s watch had police Operation Nkpochapu on ground to checkmate the activities of criminals in the state, the traders’ headache was not about Anambra alone.
“But you can’t talk about the security of Anambra State alone because some of our customers come from states like Imo, Delta, Lagos, Edo, and even some from outside Nigeria. Our customers also come from Ghana, Gabon, Cameroun and many other West African countries to this market. One can come here to buy goods and may be robbed or kidnapped on his or way back or even while coming. Government should find urgent solution to these security challenges, “ he said.
The union leader named Abia, Anambra and Lagos as the only states that have big markets for Stockfish and feared that the security situation in the country now might force customers not to travel far to get their supplies.
He said that most of their customers currently did their business transactions through waybills, which he noted did not allow for perfect business negotiations.