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Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
Former President of defunct Onitsha Market Amalgamated Traders Association (OMATA), Chief Godwin Ubaka Okeke has urged market leaders to procure fire-fighting trucks that should be stationed in their markets to avert fire disaster in Anambra State markets again.
Okeke while speaking on the fire incident in Onitsha market said that market leaders should not wait for the government to provide fire-fighting equipment for them, but should have at least water tankers in the markets in case of any fire outbreak.
The Chairman, G.U. Okeke Transport Companies Limited, therefore, called on the government to establish a check-point at Zik’s roundabout to check all articulated vehicles and their drivers before they proceed on wherever they wanted to go to know the state of the vehicles and the driver to curtail accident at Upper Iweka and other places in Onitsha.
“At times people will talk of the state government to provide fire-fighting truck, when I was the leader of OMATA, I stationed fire-fighting trucks in all the markets in the state. The traders did not wait for the government to do that, the government will give you little compensation and make political statement that will not solve your problems.
“My advice to the traders is to go back to our old system, if you cannot afford fire truck, ordinary water tanker can assist you during fire incident.
“It is unfortunate that traders don’t elect their leaders now, if the traders are allowed to elect their leaders these things will not be so again. And so, my advice to the government is let them encourage the traders to elect their leaders, no more caretaker committee because they are interested in making money and filling their pockets.
“Let them allow the traders to have their own elections and get people who are basically traders who have shops and wares in these markets. They will be thinking on how to protect their markets. A times we have people who are leaders and they will keep on printing fake tickets, collecting from the people all in the name of the government.
“As of today leaders no longer think of the welfare of those they are leading, that’s the greatest problem we are facing, you can say state government, what can they do? They can only encourage you. When I was leading the market, there was no such thing, we had fire-fighting equipment on our own and apart from that we trained some people from each market on fire fighting.
“We brought in fire-fighting officers from Enugu and Awka who trained our traders on how to handle the equipment and fight fire. We have some of them I trained when I was leading the market over 20 years ago and if you call them now they will come to train others in handling of fire fighting equipment to protect our markets than to wait for the government.
“The fire incident at Ochanja market was very disastrous and a lot of people were affected by the fire, some directly, some indirectly, so more than 70 per cent of people living in Onitsha were either directly affected or indirectly affected. That day was a black Wednesday by everybody living in Onitsha. The disturbing aspect of it was that hoodlums took over the place and were chasing fire fighters, the police and some government officials.
People prefer to be offered wine than to buy with their money –Nnewi wine dealers
David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Vinhill Wine World, Nnewi, Anambra State, major distributors and marketers of all categories of wine in the industrial community, Prince Ifeanyi Nwagbara, has expressed worry over sharp practices among Nigerian businessmen and women.
He said it was disheartening that many business operators no longer consider building trust as a major ingredient in business etiquette.
He noted that any business which foundation was laid on trust, honesty and integrity would never go moribund, but continues to wax strong from generation to generation.
On wine business, Prince Nwagbara, who explained that the major countries from where wines are imported into Nigeria included Italy, Spain, South Africa and other countries in Europe, said that the business is relatively new in Nnewi.
According to him, wine dealers in Nnewi for now experience considerable turnover during burials, weddings, big naming ceremonies and festivities, pointing out that ordinarily people find it difficult to walk into a wine shop to buy for their consumption.
He said that when such people attend an event, they would demand wines from the host, noting that many prefer to walk into a drinking joint and buy beer or spirits which he said they consider cheap without thinking about the health implications.
“Nnewi is a growing market for wine distribution and consumption. It’s growing just like every other business. But again because many big companies are now finding their ways into the town, wine business is now picking up. And, of course, you know that the economy is bad generally,” he said.
He noted that residents of Anambra State do not have shopping attitude as could be found in Enugu and some other cities across Nigeria, adding that most people prefer to go to open markets to buy their needs only to later realize that about 80 per cent of such items are fake.
He declared that the most important thing in the wine business was to build trust and to ensure one dealt in original products, adding that the profit margin might not be high enough, but that the business would be sustainable.
Prince Nwagbara described wine business as one that is capital intensive, saying that one of the major challenges to wine importers was the issue of foreign exchange, pleading that government should see the way it could be made easy for the importers.
Related to this is taxation which he argued that the final consumers of the products are the ones who bear the brunt.
Border closure: Our business has been crippled –Agric, Coker traders lament
Peter Anosike
Traders at Agric/Coker markets along Orile Igamu road, Lagos, are lamenting the devastating effect the closure of the border between Nigeria and its neighbouring countries are having on their businesses.
The traders who deal mostly in building materials and sanitary wares said that since the closure of the borders, they have been doing little or nothing as most of their customers come from the other ECOWAS countries.
According to them, the Federal Government should open the border for legitimate businesses since it is not all the traders that engage in smuggling.
They said that what Agric/Coker traders deal in is well known to all, adding that joining them among those smuggling food items amounts to mischief.
According Chijioke Umeano, Agric /Coker traders are among the worst hit by the border closure.
He said that since the borders were closed ,most of his customers who come from Benin, Ghana and other ECOWAS countries have stopped coming.
He said that even the waybill that worth millions of naira that he did for one of his customers in Ghana is still lying at the border.
His words: “I want to say that the traders in Agric/Coker are the most affected by the closure of our national borders. Before the closure, our businesses were already suffering because of the deplorable state of Lagos-Badagry road. This is because PVC are fragile materials and if not handled with care they easily break. It is not every body that can take the risk of having goods break inside the trucks as a result of the bad road. What they were doing was to be shifting the risk to us by telling us to do waybill to them. So that we will be responsible for anything that damaged in the trucks. That is what we have been doing. But now, with the closure, we cannot even do the waybill again”.
Contributing, a tile dealer in Coker, Martins Akabuike said that by government closing the border means putting a blank ban on everything that is passing through the borders whether legal or illegal.
He noted that since Nigeria and the other ECOWAS countries have trade agreement, total close of the border is wrong.
However, he said that even the items that were the target of the closure are still being smuggled into the country while those of them who deal in bulky materials are now the ones carrying the burden of the closure.
“Federal Government told the world that it is closing the border against smuggling so as to boost food production in the country. If that is the reason, why are we not allowed to send our building material to our customers in the other countries. We are not importing, rather we are exporting. Most of the waybills that we did in the last one month are still lying at the Seme border. Even our warehouses are now congested because our major customers are in the other ECOWAS countries like Ghana and Benin Republic. Even the rice that they said was the reason for the closure is still coming into the country. It is some of us who are doing genuine businesses that are being affected.”
Building materials market consoles Ochanja victims on fire incident
David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
President, Building Materials International Market Ogidi, Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, Chief Jude Nwankwo, and members of his executive have extended condolences to the families of victims who lost their lives and property in the recent Ochanja central market fire incident in Onitsha, Anambra State.
The market leader who expressed bitterness at the extent of devastation caused by the inferno said he was still in shock on how an incident that happened at Upper-Iweka area of the commercial town when a tanker fell-off the road and spilled its contents could cause immense havoc to the lives and property of innocent traders and residents of the commercial town.
He noted that disasters happen once in a while, but admitted that human error most often constitute avoidable accidents, which he said might lead to colossal loss.
Chief Nwankwo said that his market shared in the sorrows of the affected families and victims at this trying period, noting that every positive minded person must take cognizance of the fact that life has no duplicate and as such residents should take necessary safety measures to avoid avoidable disasters not only during this ember period, but at all times.
While commending the actions of some patriotic Nigerians who staked their lives to protect the lives of others and their property in the incident, Nwankwo advised that relevant authorities tasked with the responsibility of protection of lives and property of citizens, maintenance of roads and environment, including those with the task of tackling emergency situations such as National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the fire service should live up to expectations as enshrined in their statutory provisions in order to make life more meaningful to the general public.
He said that his market would continue to be a pace-setter in the bid to making trade and commerce worthwhile, as well as assisting Anambra State government in its dream to transform the state to a place of envy for all.
