Traders lose property, cash to demolition in A’Ibom

. Demolition in public interest – Govt

Traders in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital have continued to recount the pains and sufferings they are undergoing following last weekend’s demolition of shops with goods inside by officials of the Uyo Capital City Development Authority, (UCCDA).

Our correspondent, who visited the three markets demolished by the state government’s agency observed that goods were found littered around the ground, while the shop owners are still in a mourning mood, pleading with the government to come to their rescue by assisting them to go back to their business.

UCCDA had last Saturday morning embarked on what they called demolition of illegal structures in various market locations in the state capital, this happened when most of the traders were observing the monthly sanitation declared by the state government.

Speaking with our correspondent, a female trader in the popular market called “Akpan Andem Market,” Mrs. Rose Archibong explained that all the good she obtained loan to stocked in the shop have been destroyed by the officials of UCCDA, adding that the most painful thing is that they carry out the exercise when most of them were still in the house because of environmental sanitation.

She said that apart from the goods destroyed, most of their goods were looted by miscreants who took advantage of their absent to steal from their shops, adding that what they lost was much.

According to her, “As we are speaking now, most of the traders have developed heart attacks, we even received the report that some of the people selling here collapsed after hearing the news of the demolition of their shops, where are we going to start again, how do we pay back the loan we took to start this business.

They didn’t give us information that they will demolish the shops, we would have removed our goods, government have been collecting levies from us here, we never knew it was illegal structure according to them’’.

Another affected trader, Akpan Imo, said after his graduation, there was no employment, he decided to obtain loan and started selling poultry, but with the demolition, he cannot even see his remaining goods again, because miscreants might have stolen them away.

He said even those shops that the UCCDA has demolished, they have already paid the rent up to three years through the market management, plus the daily levies they have been paying, explaining that to them, it was a tale of woes and pains when they woke up to see the business they have been investing on over the years being destroyed one day.

At another market location, called “Urua Enin,” which is some distance away from University of Uyo where the demolition exercise was also carried out, one of the affected traders, Mr. Essien Itama, queried the rationale behind the government’s action, even when there was no pre-notice to the traders who would have evacuated their goods before that day.

According to him, “This market is a community market, it’s not situated in the heartbeat of Uyo, so the officials of UCCDA coming here with machetes and axes as if they are going to war, just for the demolition of a community market is pathetic, we are still studying the next action to be taken, we have consulted our lawyers, pending on their advice, we will take the UCCDA to Court to claimed our damages.

Goods worth millions of naira have been destroyed here, can any government do this to its citizens?, we don’t even have access road to this community, the only one we had have been damaged due to flood during rainy season and government don’t pay attention to that”.

But, the Special Assistant to the Governor Udom Emmanuel on Traders and Market Matter, Mr. Idoreyin Raphael told our correspondent that government has every right to demolish any place that is illegal without pre-information.

He said “It doesn’t matter whether the government notified them or not, government has every right to remove illegal structures, but my happiness is that nobody died during the exercise, I have not received any compliant that somebody slumped as claimed by few traders.”

Chairman of Uyo Capital City Development Authority, (UCCDA) Mr Enobong Uwah said the agency has the mandate to regulates building of structures in Uyo capital city, and can also demolish any structure that it considers to be illegal.

He denied the claim that officials of UCCDA were the people that looted the demolished shops, saying all those market shops demolished were illegal structures which they have been warning the owners long before now.

He said the demolition was for the interest of the government and its developmental plans, adding that the state governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel wants to ensure the development of the capital city with speed, so he doesn’t want interference.

The Chairman, Uyo Local Government Council, Barr. Mfon Ben in an interview said the council were not informed about the exercise, and urged the affected traders to remain calm, as government will look into their plights.

Bassey Willie, Uyo