Kubwa Online Community

by Emma Elekwa

Barely one month after some traders in the Kubwa main market were sent packing by the authorities of Bwari Area Council through demolition, most people affected by the demolition are yet to get over the shock occasioned by the exercise.

While some are presently staying with relations or friends, who are shop owners at the market, others have resorted to displaying their wares at other convenient places available to them.

Others still, have completely closed down business, as they could not face the challenge and risk of losing their valuable goods in the course of being pursued by the task force officials.

One of those affected, Kamilu Adamu Sauwa, narrated his ordeal to Aso Chronicle. He said that he is yet to overcome the emotional and physiological trauma he encountered as a result of the exercise.

Visibly devastated, the 30-year old man disclosed that he had spent not less than 15 years in the market selling garden eggs, the business he had used to train himself and others in school. 

A second year student of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kamilu expressed fears that the abrupt suspension of his ‘lucrative’ business as a result of the exercise might lead to the end of his academic pursuit.  

According to him, although they had earlier been informed of the imminent closure of their businesses, the visit by task force officials still stunned most of them.

“They told us that that day was sanitation. So we came out a bit late than the usual time we used to come. By the time we came, we saw our tables and chairs being packed into the trucks,” he lamented.

Kamilu, who further accused the council authorities of insincerity and insensitivity to their plights, wondered why they should be treated as aliens even in their fatherland.

“They said they would pursue those who have converted some of the shops to residential apartments. They have not carried out the operation yet but they have rendered us jobless,” he bemoaned. 

While acknowledging that where they were trading is illegal, he pleaded with the authorities to facilitate the relocation process in view of the economic loss and other adverse effects they face. 

However, Chairman, Shop Users Association, Simon Peter Onuoha, expressed appreciation to the council authorities for the measures been taken to give the market a face lift.

He however urged them not to stop only at removing the illegal structures, but to provide the market with some basic facilities like water and toilet.

Meanwhile, the Head of Department, Environmental, Bwari Area Council, Haruna Labaran Ahmed, has called for patience, understanding and cooperation from the aggrieved traders as he said his team is not resting on its oars to ensure they are properly settled as soon as possible.

He said the government was not unaware of the present challenges being faced by the traders as a result of the exercise. 

Haruna explained that the move was “both in their best interest and that of the customers, who hardly patronize them due to the absence of parking spaces in the market.”