‘They keep asking us to pay money’ — traders protest ‘exploitation’ by Niger LG

Traders at the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida central market in Suleja LGA of Niger have protested against alleged exploitation by the council.

The traders took to the streets on Tuesday with placards to demand a halt to the multiple levies and taxes allegedly imposed on them by the LG council.

Obilly Nwaeze, the market spokesperson, said the local government authorities have marked many of their stalls for demolition despite asking traders to pay money on several occasions.

Nwaeze said the council should inform traders if there were plans to demolish their structures rather than exploiting them through different means.

“If there are plans to remodel the market or any form of expansion, the traders should be carried along. We are the first to be affected,” NAN quoted Nwaeze as saying.

”But in this case, they are not telling us anything than asking us to pay different sums of money and marking our shops for demolition under flimsy excuses.

“The council asked us to pay N1.2 million each for a shop so that it can be raised to an upstairs and later, they reduced it to N800,000. But they refused to tell us what the money is meant for.

“They also demanded that we pay another N10,000 non-refundable fee for forms.”

He said the traders were ignored when they requested a meeting with the LG council authorities several times to resolve the problems.

He said the LG council could consider opening new sites for expansion instead of demolishing existing shops to build storey structures for revenue generation.

“Such adjustments are just an invitation to disaster because the shops will start collapsing,” he said.

He called on the state government and security agencies to intervene in the situation, adding that some shop owners alleged they have received threats from people suspected to be loyal to the LG chairman.

Reacting, Bawa Naibi, LG chairman of Suleja, said the issue between the council and the traders was the handiwork of some mischief makers.

Naibi who spoke through Haruna Kaniko, his spokesperson, said the mischief makers misinterpreted the facts to favour them adding that he was not aware of the N1.2 million alleged to be demanded by the council for market expansion.

He said the proposed demolition of the market was to ensure the safety of the traders.

“We wanted the shops with perimeter fence along the link roads to be upgraded to upstairs,” he said.

“IBB market has 1, 280 shops capacity according to the original master plan but today not less than 7, 000 shops are there.

“I think there is a lack of effective communication between the committee handling the market adjustments and the key stakeholders.

“I believed if there are wide consultations, what is happening now could have been avoided.”