‘We’re Trying To Provide For Our Families’- Graduate ‘Illegal Traders’ In Abuja Market Speak About Challenges

By the definition of Management of Wuse Market, Abuja’s largest market, Chinedu and Enyinnaya are illegal traders in the market because they are both tailors sewing window, door shades and other materials at unauthorized places and corridors.

Chinedu is a marketing graduate of Abia State University while Enyinnaya studied accounting at the Enugu State University. They are not related but met at the market when they decided to “start something” after more than one year of fruitless search for jobs.

Quest for Survival Validates ‘Illegal Trading’

They both have been in the tailoring business for five years, admitting that the state of unemployment caused a shift to the sewing job.

They are part of Wuse tailors, dominated by men in their 30s who’re scattered at various corridors of Section C, an extension of the market.

“Let’s just be honest. I know we are not doing it right but they are tormenting us. We are not standing on the road but at least, to have a shelter in this place to provide for our family,” Enyinnaya said, lamenting.

He said he has been arrested, and arraigned before Mobile Courts set up by the Abuja Municipal Area Council ( AMAC)  several times for operating in the market illegally. They would seize his machine and would be made to pay either N10,000 or N5000 to get it back.

“I have been in Suleja prison twice; I spent 2 weeks on each occasion. They said I should bring surety and I don’t have anybody,” the father of three said, adding he won’t give up since he can’t find the money to rent a shop in the market, some of which go for as high as N2million per annum.

“I must find a way to feed my family and give them what they need,” he said.

Chinedu was sewing a window shade when THE WHISTLER found him on a  busy pathway in the market. He positioned himself where people coming into the market or shopping around would easily notice him. A stack of clothes beside him showed the reporter had visited at a busy time.

But he was willing to share his pain and that of people like him.

After lamenting the state of the economy which has deprived university graduates of decent paid jobs, he said he decided to start doing tailoring work around the market since he could not afford to rent a shop.

But task force would not allow them any comfort. “The taskforce people are disturbing us too much, and I can’t pay for a shop.

“Because of this small place where I stay, I have been in to  Suleja prison. But I will not judge the management of this market because we are not paying here,” he said.

Chinedu said he went to prison because he could not afford his fine. “I have been in court for three to four times but the bill they gave me, I was not able to afford it.

“They gave me a bill of N20,000 for bail-out based on the day you come and  it keeps increasing. I couldn’t afford that money, so I said let me be there,” he stated.

Having stayed in prison for three days, he was released after friends and families came to his rescue by paying the bail-out.

There are others with similar experiences, like Happybaby (as he’s fondly called) who had been jailed for at least three times. The last time was early in the year when he couldn’t afford to pay his fine and was sent to Suleja prison for two months.

He said he has three children in school and pays an average of N100,000 in school fees yearly, adding it was the reason he had to continue to take the risk since he had no viable option.

But some are lucky, like Samuel Dominic,  a fairly-used phone dealer who secured a space at the outer corridor of a small shop which he shares with the owner.  The graduate of the University of Abuja delved into the business of fairly-used phones after idling away for more than a year in search of elusive jobs.

He and other store owners who could afford to stay in market shops, said they have had no encounter with council officials who harass small traders selling around the market.

“Shop in the most hidden place here is N1.5 million which I cannot afford. Some other places if you go, they are paying N2 million, the prices are not fixed,” said Dominic who shares payment of a shop with another trader.

“That is why we cannot afford to rent a shop but to manage with another person but the taskforce will not allow you,” he said.

Task Force Are Not Doing Enough — Market Chairman

The Wuse Market Chairman, Okorie Ikechukwu, said the market management will not tolerate any form of illegal trading by ‘touts’ in the market.

“And, what we have done is allow the Task Force to ensure that those who do business in illegal places are not allowed to operate.

“We are not even convinced and comfortable that the task force is doing enough, because we still have a lot of illegal businesses going on in the market which we want to clean out.

“We are partnering with all security agencies to ensure the market was safe and sane for everyone with legitimate businesses.”

Ikechukwu, however, stressed that the market will not cave out any “illegal space for all sort of businesses” because it is “an enclosed area of land” and such an act “will by extension make the market a madhouse.”

He said tailors “who are serious about their business” would take up a shop  “upstairs in section C, second floor, third floor,” and pay rent “ legitimately without harassment.”. 

He said the government built multiple markets across the FCT to house traders with varying financial capacities, and as such those who cannot afford the shop rate at Wuse market should seek elsewhere.