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‘We Bribe AEPB Officers’ — Car Wash Operators Lament As Reps Call For Regulation Of Business

The absence of proper regulation of the activities of car wash operators within the Federal Capital Territory recently prompted the House of Representatives to call for the formulation of a regulatory framework to guide their operation.

Findings by THE WHISTLER showed that many car wash operators within the nation’s capital are carrying out their business without adequate laid down guidelines and procedures.

In December, the House of Reps had called on the Federal Capital Territory Administration and the Area Councils to ensure that operators of car-wash stands obtained permission before establishing or operating their business in any location in the nation’s capital.

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The House had urged the FCTA and the area councils to develop within their legislative competencies a robust legal framework to regulate the activities of car-wash operators in the FCT.

The car wash business involves using large volumes of water and operators of the business have been accused of defacing the federal capital and using chemicals that are harmful to the environment.

Besides the environmental hazards their activities could pose, some abandoned car wash centres are reportedly being taken over by criminal elements who pose a threat to the personal safety of pedestrians, drivers, and residents of the federal capital.

Our corresponded visited some car wash centres in Utako, Lugbe, Kubwa, and the Central Area, where some of the operators confirmed that their activities are not regulated.

Speaking to our correspondent, Eric Ufor, the manager of a car-wash stand in Utako, said he had operated the business for over 2 years without obtaining any form of licence. He said sometimes, he and his colleagues bribe the environmental officers to allow them to do their business without disturbance.

Ufor said, “The Abuja Environmental Protection Board initially didn’t want people washing by the roadside. Before I moved here, I had operated on the roadside but too much trouble prompted me to move out of there. But here, the AEPB doesn’t come to disturb me every time.

Speaking on how they handle the AEPB, he said, “They usually come in full force, but you know Nigeria level, sometimes we settle, sometimes we leave them to go then we come back to continue our business because with them being around you cannot work.”

An illegal car wash stand near Unity Bank, Central Area, after NNPC Towers.

Ufor admitted that the AEPB is right to go after roadside carwash operators because they litter the environment with dirt but lamented the lack of a proper regulatory framework to guide their operations.

To avoid problems with the AEPB, Ufor said he endeavours to tidy up his space daily. He also revealed that he pays N10,000 annually to the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) as ‘registration fee’.

“I pay ten thousand Naira to the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC). Now on their part, we can operate but on the part of the AEPB, we are not allowed to. This is the challenging aspect of the business,” he said while calling on the government to come up with a regulatory framework to guide their operation.

Aloe Chidozie, who also runs a roadside cash wash business in Ukako, has been arrested, charged to court, and fined a couple of times but that has not deterred him from returning to the same business.

He told our correspondent that although the business isn’t lucrative, the lack of a decent job and the state of the country’s economy have prevented him from doing something else.

“I have been here for more than two years and others have spent 5 years here. They said our operation here is illegal and we always run at the sight of them (AEPB officials). At instances when we didn’t see them on time, they pack our things and arrest us and take us to a mobile court, they charge us and we pay and go our ways. They charge us two thousand Naira.

“We are not doing this because it’s lucrative, but there’s no job. Often times they come and chase us, while they arrest us some time. They tell us that we are operating illegally,” Chidozie lamented.

He noted that some of his customers had tried to help him rent the space to operate legally, but said that officials of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board would have still frustrated him.

Efforts by our correspondent to get the Director of Information of the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Zamani Grace, to speak on the issue were unsuccessful as she claimed not to be aware of the call by the House of Reps for the proper regulation of cash wash operators in Abuja.

Grace promised to get back to our correspondent after reading about the House of Reps’ call but did not. She also failed to respond to subsequent text messages sent to her phone.

Abuja Environmental Protection BoardAbuja Metropolitan Management CouncilaepbAMMCCar WashFederal Capital Territoryhouse of representativesZamani Grace
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