TOTAL BAN ON STREET TRADING IN LAGOS:Ambode is calling hunger and pain to war

“It is those who wear the shoe that know where it pinches them,” began Centenarian Aditun Abike Shoderu, a centenarian who told The Daily Times that many generations of the people in Lagos Island were raised on daily street trading proceeds in Isale Eko area of Lagos Island.

Shoderu, popularly called ‘Yeye Isale Eko’ was reacting to Lagos State Governor,  Akinwunmi Ambode’s recent announcement in a live interview that the law banning street trading and hawking across the Lagos metropolis would be rigidly enforced from July 1, 2016.

“Trading is Lagos and Lagos is trading; I have lived and trained my children through street trading,” Yeye Isale Eko told our correspondent. “Look around you; street trading has taken our daughters and sons from crime and prostitution. It is our culture and main stay; Lagos will not be Lagos without hawking and street trading.

“I can see your governor don’t know what hunger and poverty and homelessness means,” the old one placed her two hands on her chest, “tell Ambode from me that if he arrests hawkers in our own Isale Eko, he has called hunger and pain to war. Tears, hunger and pain of mothers and children will hunt him to his grave.”

Alhaji Sadiq Abdulraman, a caretaker and old indigene of Isale Eko sees the development as a joke. “If Gov Ambode is serious, then he cannot be interested in the welfare of the people of Lagos state. Let us see how his government will do it. It is going to be like the story of the poor who cannot sleep because they are hungry; and the rich man who has eaten and is full but cannot sleep because he is afraid that the poor man is awake.

“If those traders have as much as N5,000, many of them will not be on the streets hawking. And if you pack them into jail, you will have to feed them for three months, abi? Now, calculate how much that will cost his government, plus the crime that will follow after they are released and know that the show is just beginning: let us see first if he is serious.”

Ajegunle

With the entire street trading and hawking in the popular jungle city, Ajegunle still keeps law enforcement officers working round the clock; now, if you start arresting the great population of traders and hawkers who are doing it with dignity and passion because it is their only way of keeping away from crime and prison, what is government asking for?

This is the submission of Mr. Edward Ndukwe, publisher of a local tabloid, Ajeromi-Ifelodu Grassroots Newspaper. A thoroughbred Ajegunle personified, Edwards paints a picture of the core Ajegunle family:

“When you see school children hawking pure water in the traffic after school hours, it is because whatever they make from the sales would be their dinner at night.  This is the pattern of many families in Ajegunle:

“Stephen, Michael, when you come from school, go take two bags of pure water from Baba Boniface shop; take ice block too and make una sell’am finish o. After you pay for the water, buy gari and keep’am till I come.” She draws her own ears and warns: “make una no chop’am o. I go know if una chop’am. When I dey come I go buy the thing we go take cook soup; you hear?”

That instruction is from a mother to her children aged 8 and 11 and it is a daily routine, Edwards said. “On Saturdays and Sundays and Public Holidays, every member of the family goes a-hustling. That is the picture of a typical Ajegunle family. Does Gov. Ambode know that?”

However, observations since Monday showed that quite a number of the traders deserted major highways, but have employed other means of hawking their wares.

At Pen Cinema, Agege; Agbotikuyo, Iyana-Ipaja and Ikotun areas of Lagos, The Daily Times felt the pulse of the traders who were on the streets but selling with caution. It was obvious passengers and passersby are as prone to breaching this law as well as the traders, as buying and selling in the streets and traffic have become impulsive and natural.

“It is another way of government telling us to go back to our state and villages,” a trader who gave his name only as CY told The Daily Times. The bunch of handkerchief and face towels he was hawking, put together is under N1,000 – and he has been out since early in the day. “There is no job at home; in Lagos there is no job, but it is easier to survive here than at home, and now they want to start arresting us. Is somebody thinking of the poor at all?” He asked, bewildered.

Another bewildered voice in Iyana Ipaja said, “Ambode must be reasonable because what he is threatening now will compound our already tensed situation. I am a single mother but I am not complaining; my six year old son is in school and I manage my life selling hair products and platting hair on the side. What am I supposed to do if they arrest me? If they jail me, who will take care of my son? And if I come out of jail what am I supposed to do? Am I not a Nigerian again?”

Three brothers from Anambra said they hope the news is not true. “Here we are just struggling to survive without getting into trouble. We are only trying to provide jobs for ourselves because government has no job for anybody. In my own case, I am offering service for people caught in the traffic and they are happy and I am sustained. Should that be a problem for government?”

Others who spoke at various points of trading said they are suffering and government is not offering any solution, “Now they want to ban us from hawking. I am a widow with five children to feed. My husband’s estate was snatched by his family immediately after he was buried. How am I supposed to survive with my children? Is this government?”

Meanwhile the Public Affairs Officer of the Lagos Taskforce, Mr Adebayo Taofiq, was honest about the onerous task before them. “Honestly, we are yet to make any arrest (as of Tuesday); but as from tomorrow (today), the taskforce unit, to be headed by its Chairman, Superintendent of Police, Olayinka Egbeyemi, with other security outfits and men of the Kick Against Indiscipline, will launch a total enforcement across the metropolis and anyone caught in the process shall be prosecuted accordingly.”
It would be recalled that a street hawker who was knocked down by a truck in the process of evading arrest from officials of Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) along Maryland Bus stop last Wednesday informed Gov Ambode’s decision to effect the ban on street trading.

It is believed that the incident which led to public outcry and destruction of some government buses and assets led the governor and his executive council to enforce the law, which makes both the hawker and the buyer liable of the offence.

Also reacting to the development, an open letter from the Lagos branch of KOWA Party to Gov Ambode reads in part:

“While we commend the governor for finally noticing one of the many problems facing Lagos state and her residents, we are however appalled by his poorly thought out kneejerk reaction. We believe this is a problem that can be solved in a more humane manner seeing as these business men and women don’t set to become criminals and would most likely willingly engage in legitimate business, earn a living, pay their taxes and contribute positively to society.

“When decisions are made by those who lead, consequences follow and in this case, consequences for both passengers who patronise hawkers in long hours of traffic and as a matter of necessity require the services and the product of these hawkers and the hawkers who have to earn a living by risking their lives to sell a product that they usually cannot even use.

“Majority of these Nigerians who have chosen to be street hawkers have done so as a last resort having refused the option of crime; and if as a result of this new law announced by Mr Governor, a flagrant contradiction of the Lagos State Street Trading and Illegal Markets Law of 2003, which is a fine of N5,000 or a three months imprisonment upon conviction, an increase in crime rate in the state is to be expected.

“On a psychological front, the countless man-hours spent in traffic should also be expected by Lagosians to be more frustrating since purchasing what to eat or getting a needed tool as small and important as an handkerchief in hot weather traffic would now be a crime from which we can even go ahead to infer less productivity at work due to this frustration.

We believe that rather than just arrest these people, slam them in jail and/or impose a fine on them just to release them back into the streets again, the government can be creative with its implementation of its N25b ETF. Asides encouraging them to willingly come forward to take advantage of the fund, which most of them have never heard of and those who know about it probably have no idea of how to access it, the government can and should primarily send officials into the streets to educate these people about the fund and the procedures of accessing it. It should also go without saying that the fund should be very easy to access and not require the million and one bottlenecks usually associated with such interventions.

“Lastly we wish to encourage you to continuously put the interest of your true bosses, the people of Lagos state, first in all your activities and assignments as the executive governor of Lagos state. Thank you.”

The letter was signed by its Lagos State Acting Chairman, Dr Fajuyitan Fadahunsi.