Street trading is a menace, which many a government struggles to beat. In Edo State, the government of Governor Godwin Obaseki is fighting to end this poverty-induced practice, write Osagie Otabor and Yusuff Ibrahim
Do you want a shop in any market in Benin City? Simply walk into any market, any empty shop you see, break it open if it is under lock and forcefully start selling your wares. Anybody that comes to harass you or ask you to leave, report back with the person to our office. That is the message from officials of Oredo Local Government Area to individuals or traders seeking shops at various markets in Benin City.
But, are shops really available at the market?
Many were recently sacked from engaging in street trading at the Oba Ovoranmen Square, the Oba Market Road and over ten adjoining streets. Today the streets around the Oba market are clean and motorable. Some of the street urchins who hitherto collected money from the street traders were arrested and remanded in prison custody. But street trading still thrives in other parts of the city like Third junction, New Lagos Road, roads around New Benin Market, Oliha markets, Uwa market and Edaiken market.
The sacked street traders were asked to go and find shops inside the Oba Market and other markets within Benin City metropolis. Acting General Manager of the Edo State Waste Management Board, Prince Aiyamenkhue Akonofua, told reporters after the street traders were sacked that leaders of the various markets had been urged to make space available for the displaced street traders inside the markets.
Akonofua dismissed claims by the street traders that there were no available stores at the various markets or where stores are available, the prices are too high for the traders to pay.
High rent, empty shops
Checks by our reporters showed that empty shops abound in all the markets in Benin City but people prefer to sell in the streets because of the high cost of getting a shop inside the markets. There are 11 markets in Oredo local government and other major market are the Edaiken market and Egor market. Shops in the markets are allotted to rich individuals who in turn gave them out at exorbitant prices to the petty traders.
The official annual price to secure a shop at the markets varies. In the Oba market, double lock up shops go for N20,000 while squatters pay N18,500. In other markets in Oredo, the price ranged from N12,000 to N18,000 annually. When our reporter visited Oredo Secretariat to inquire on how to get a shop. A woman at the desk said shops are not allotted by the council officials but by the shop managers. When questioned about payment, she said: “You don’t pay to us. We only deal with the managers (shop owners). They are the one to pay to us.”
A visit to the Oba Market showed another scenario. A shop owner, whose identity could not be ascertained, demanded N100,000 annual pay, including kola nuts and drinks for lock up shops. For an open stall whose official price goes for N5,400, the owner demanded N80,000. Many of the shops were under lock and key. The top floor of the market is mainly not occupied.
At the Agbado market on Akpakpava Street, many shops were also seen to be under lock and key. A shop owner said she would only manage to give out a shop for N50,000 besides other things like kola nuts, drinks and sometimes yams.
It was gathered that the bold move by Obaseki to sack the traders from the street had made officials of Oredo council to undertook verification of the actual shop owners. A source said the verification exercise had showed that the council did not know who owns which shop and those managers that have not paid up to date. This account for the reason they asked prospective traders to go scout for empty shops themselves.
Besides the high price of securing shops, most of the markets have not been refurbished for many years now. Modern facilities are lacking in many of the markets. Motor parks that used to exist in markets like New Benin and Osa are no longer there. The markets that were built in the 1980s could no longer cope with the growth in population.
The official in charge of allocating market shops in Oredo, Comrade Agbons Uyigue, dismissed allegations that it was difficult to secure shops at markets in the locality. He said there were over 400 empty stores at the Oba market that traders are yet to occupy.
He said: “If you are a trader and you see any stores that are locked unoccupied in any of our markets, then move in. That has been the council’s policy for six years now. If you see any empty store in the market, enter the shop and start trading. If anybody challenges you then you and the person should bring the matter to the council and the council would take it up from there.
“There was a time we realised some of these traders were being asked to pay high amount of money by some store owners and we stopped them. We told the store owners that you cannot secure these stores from the government at low prices only for you to begin to lease them out to traders at exorbitant rates.
“It is only when they pack into an empty store and somebody comes to drive them away, it is then that they can have a legitimate complaint. Let them move into any of the empty stores and if anyone prevents them, they will know if the council is docile.
“If they have a legitimate claim, let them move into any empty stores in the Oba market and let us see who will drive them away.”
He however refused to state how much the council generates annually from market rates.
A trader at the Oba market, who simply gave her name as Glory, said it was difficult to get a good shop. She said many of the available shops were used as warehouse to store goods.
Josephine Irabor, a tailor at the market, said: “The reason why some traders do not occupy the shops here is because of the low sales at this side of the market. Buyers or customers rarely come here to patronize us. Therefore the low sales here really discouraged many traders from occupying the stores here.
“Apart from this reason, the nature of their trade products or commodities is perishable in nature. If they keep them in the stores within few days, they would get perish. Such traders would definitely not rent stores stores here but prefer to operate in the open places such as roadsides for people to see and patronize their products before they get spoilt.
“For those who trade items such as clothes or wears believe that their goods must be displayed on the major roads to gain buyers attentions.”
To Mrs. Joy Godwin, “Most of the stores you see here are leaking. When rain starts you will realize that many stores here need to be renovated. Infact, many of the traders have to spend up to N10,000 to stop the leakages in their stores. I had to leave the store I was occupying before and move to this place because of the leakages.
“How can someone selling petty goods rent stores upstairs at the Oba market? Look at the structure of the market. What about those whose total money they use for businesses are not more than 5,000 naira? Do u expect those set of people to also rent stores in the Oba market?
“In my own view, I would strongly suggest the government should create or make provision for that category group of petty traders. It is not about chasing them to the store. They should create open space for such traders to trade.”
Another cloth seller, who refused to give her name, said: “To get a small store here varies between 20000-30,000 naira. Most of the traders here did not get the shops directly from the government but rather from the stores owners who got the shops directly from the government. It is these stores owners that determine the shops rates based on the original rates they got them from the council.
“The reason why many traders did not occupy many stores in the Oba market is the problem of accessibility. The stair cases and pathways that lead to the stores have been blocked by traders and their goods therefore not allowing passers-by and people to have access to most of the stores in the market. So because of this reason, many traders are discouraged from occupying the shops in the market.
“Traders in this market are not organised like markets in my place where I came from. Over there, you dare not put your goods on the way or path ways.”
