We Can’t Feed Our Families Anymore, Traders Plead With FCDA Over Market Closure

Dutse market traders in Abuja who were sacked by the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), have expressed their frustrations and said they were the capacity to feed their families.   

The FCDA had instructed traders who could not afford shops and those who built illegal attachments to relocate to the new Dutse Peyi market, where the government had provided open space facility for them.

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The traders have however ignored the directive and subsequently resisted the demolition of the makeshift shops by the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) On Monday, March 9, 2020.

Kolawole Bamidele Samuel, a trader who spoke on behalf of some group of traders and shop owners, told THE WHISTLER that they were suffering as a result of the shutdown of the market and plaza by the FCDA.

Samuel said some of the traders were finding it difficult to feed their families and pay bills since the shutdown, adding that he had 13 employees who would be expecting their salaries at the end of the month.

He said he paid over N300 thousand as salaries monthly and wondered how he would be able to meet his obligations this month if the market remains shut.

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Samuel said, “if all avenues for negotiation fails, we will go to the local government chairman and demand for the reason why the market was locked.

“We will tell him that people are hungry, suffering and need to transact business for them to feed their families.”

A trader, Chukwuma, also told this website that traders lost lots of properties during the demolition by the AEPB.

Chukwuma said that most of the traders were already frustrated as they would lose lots of their customers.

He alleged that the authorities were planning to sell the spaces that were occupied by the traders who were sacked.

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 Bwari Area Council Explains Shut Down Of Market

The Director of Administration, Bwari Area Council, Mohamad Musa Loko told THE WHISTLER that the temporary shutdown of the Dutse market was to sanitize and give the market a befitting look.

 Loko explained that the authorities had no intention to permanently shut down the market, adding that the move was a directive from the minister of the FCT, Muhammed Musa Bello.

He said that only illegal structures were demolished during the exercise, stressing that only those traders who sold goods in the open space and those on attachment were driven.

The director said that the authorities had provided options for the traders to continue their business operations at Dutse Peyi market, adding that most of the traders were already settled at the new market.

Loko further explained that the demolition was carried out by the ministerial task force and not the area council.

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He claimed that the market was causing unnecessary traffic gridlock and security concerns, adding that the vice president, Yemi Osinbanjo, who visited the area council on Monday, could not use the same road as he had to fly due to security reports around the market.

 “What we are saying is that okrika traders and other petty traders who have no space in the Dutse market should relocate to the Dutse Peyi market,” he said, adding that it would help the markets specialize on different commodities like what is obtainable in Dubai and US.

He also said some occupants of the Oloye Olajunoke Akinjide shopping plaza, built extensions that violated right of ways.

He however disclosed that both the Dutse market and the plaza might be open for operation by Thursday.

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