Corona’s ‘bleeding bite’ on Nigerian teachers

Officials of the task force, the traders further allege, raid make-shift shops and other business outlets not with the intention of prosecuting or stopping them from the ‘illegal trading’ but for collecting bribe, ostensibly to line their pockets.

Ufoma, who further spoke on this, insisted that the task force officials see traders as money-making machines, especially as whatever they collected from them goes straight to their personal pockets.
Another trader, who only gave her name as Mrs. Evelyn, accused the task force officials of harassment and exploitation.

She said, “I pay N1,000 daily in order that I can stay where I am. They will come here and forcibly carry our items, including bottled groundnut and banana. After carrying them, they will not return them. There are lots of my basins that I used in carrying some of these items that are with them. These people are heartless. They lack human feelings in them. No matter how long you cry, these people will not release your seized items.”

Evelyn also alleged that they were discriminatory in their operations. She lamented, “They claim that they use the items as a lunch for their animals. But, whenever they seize items belonging to Hausa people, they endeavour return them because they speak the same language. It is shocking and terrifying to watch the way they treat some of us that do not speak their language. They do not like to return our own items. I do not know the why. It is sheer wickedness. Some of their members do come and collect money from us. Some come in the morning while another group comes in the evening. If you put together what we pay them, it will turn out to be something reasonable.” Noting that the operations of the task force were getting out of hand, Evelyn appealed to the FCT authorities to look into their demands.

She added, “They have turned us into money-making machine. We have families and children. I do not think what they are doing to us is in any way supported by law. They are just telling us that we should go and steal or rob to support our families. What we are doing is just our little contributions to support our families and ensure that our children go to school. Some of our husbands are not doing anything and even the salaries of those of them working are small. So, I urge the government to investigate this issue before it turns to something else.”

A footwear seller known as Mr. Anthony, also frowned on the incessant harassment even as he tasked the FCT leadership to provide them with a better trading space.

According to him, it is only a better accommodation that will save them from the daily harassment.

He said, “What we face is better imagined than felt. Members of this agency operate without check and their activities reflect the rot confronting the country.

“We are paying them every month, yet they won’t allow us to have peace of mind. I pay N1,000 every day, but these officials will still not allow us to have rest. When they seize our goods, we pay heavily to get them back and sometimes, we lose these items. We do not know if the government is aware of this money. Or how they remit it? We are seriously at a crossroads because we do not know who to talk to.

“Can you imagine that in these hard times, after making my daily payment, these people still come and seize my goods.

Government should help us by creating space where we can be together to sell our products. After doing that, whoever is caught flouting the rules should be dealt with severely. We can be in one place and still sell our markets. It will be good for us and the environment will be safer for everyone.”

Responding to the allegations, the Head, Information and Outreach, Abuja Environmental Protection Board, Mrs. Janet Peni, said the board does not tolerate indiscipline. She also decried the role of impersonators, saying that they are giving the board a bad name.

She explained, “Well, I cannot categorically say they are not our staff. All I can say is that we have staff that we have already recruited as casual staff as enforcement officers that go around the city to make sure street traders and hawkers are taken off the streets. Beggars, destitute and the rest constituting nuisance and showed the way out.

“Whenever you come across them, tell us because our members of staff wear Navy blue. They also have special identification number on their sleeves. So, when you see them misbehaving, call and alert us. When you do that, then we can easily trace the culprit.

“But more importantly, we are always talking to our enforcement officers. Every morning before they depart for assignment, we assemble them and talk to them. I suspect the accused in this case are not members of our staff. But, when we catch you as our staff doing that, we will discipline you.
Why, because street hawking is prohibited. It is not allowed at all. It is part of our function to take them out of the city. So, we cannot indulge in that. And if anyone is found wanting, I can assure you that the Director, Dr. Abubakar Hassan, who is a no-nonsense man, will dismiss the person.  I do not have any doubt about that.”

She also dismissed the allegation that the board’s officials were contributing to the disruption of the city’s masterplan. She noted, “I do not think they can give anyone permission to do that because Abuja has a master plan, and everything has its own place where shops and markets are supposed to be well mapped out. So, that should not be our main work. It is not part of our functions to give out shops. That should be for development control.