Fred Ezeh
Life as a street trader in Abuja is becoming more traumatising everyday. Officials of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) have become the apparition haunting them day and night as they face harassment, intimidation and even arrest.
While the AEBP insisted that the Act establishing the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) outlaws street trading, hawking and begging, particularly within the city centre, the hawkers, propelled by the need to eke out a livelihood, have stubbornly nestled in the city centre that affords them greater chances of success.
But the tough decision to seek greener pastures in supposedly prohibited locations comes at a huge cost. They face all manners of discomfort, harassment and attack by law enforcement agencies; but they trudge on in spite of the crackdown.
Daily, these unwanted traders and artisans flood the city centre from different satellite towns like Nyanya, Kugbo and Bwari, offering an array of menial services that cost the bourgeoisie next to nothing.
As Abuja continues to witness unprecedented influx of beggars, street traders and hawkers who come in search of their “daily bread”, many are already looking at the security implication. There are also concerned that the actions of the street traders and hawkers deface Abuja and discredit the efforts of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) to maintain orderliness.
Often, FCT officials, particularly those from the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), who are constitutionally saddled with the responsibility of protecting the environment, chase, intimidate, harass and extort the hapless traders and beggars as they attempt to enforce the AEPB laws.
On several occasions, some unlucky ones among these low-class citizens have been hit and run over by fast moving vehicles. A first timer in Abuja who witnesses the enforcement operation could mistake the ensuing chaotic situation for citizens fleeing a terrorist attack.
As the battle between survival and environmental protection rages, the hawkers have refused to vacate the city centre and relocate to hinterlands as directed, while the AEPB task teams have also vowed not to relent in the onslaught against the street trading until sanity is restored.
The situation, unarguably, has created gainful opportunities for the taskforce officials to exploit some stubborn traders who are bent on plying their trade in the city centre, irrespective of the troubles that come with such vehemence. Some of the hawkers and roadside traders, particularly women, are willing to offer anything, including sex, to the enforcement officials so that they could protect them during the raids.
A senior official of AEPB who pleaded anonymity told Daily Sun that the taskforce team, on daily basis, are exposed to temptations, which, if not resisted, could tarnish the image of AEPB: “Even at that, activities of some corrupt members of the team have negatively affected the success of our work.”
The official admitted that some of the taskforce officials are not totally committed to the mission of AEPB. Some of them, according to him, picked the job not because they love it or believe in the idea of cleaning up the city of Abuja, but because it affords them a robust platform to extort money from the traders:
“Regrettably, corruption has eaten deep into our system in Nigeria. Just the way some officials at the top of government allegedly use every opportunity to dupe Nigeria, people at the lower ladder also desire such opportunity and they use it whenever it presents itself.
“Besides, the cost of living is extremely high in Nigeria and there is no corresponding source of income to meet the increasing personal and family demands. Some of these taskforce officials have families and other dependants who rely on their meagre salaries for survival. But that is not an excuse for corruption.”
However, investigations revealed that, on a daily basis, management of AEPB disciplines erring taskforce officials who are either caught in wrongdoing or reported by the public through a channel provided by AEPB. In some cases, the erring officials are sacked as recommended by the in-house disciplinary team who finds them culpable, to avoid tarnishing the board’s image.
It was gathered that some of the sacked officials are not given prior notification and necessary entitlements that would cushion the financial effect of the job loss. In such a hopeless situation, they bunch up to form a parallel enforcement team, oiled by their years of cognate experience.
Thereafter, they spread to various locations in different locations in Abuja, where they unleash horror on street traders and beggars who cannot differentiate them from the legal enforcement teams.
They are usually decked in similar outfits like those of the genuine AEPB officers to get maximum cooperation from their hapless targets. With deep grasp of the daily enforcement operations of AEPB, these phoney enforcers collaborate with criminal elements within the system to work at cross-purposes and share the proceeds from the illegal raids among members of the gang.
Since the sack of task force members is usually not announced, street traders and beggars cannot differentiate a genuine enforcer from a fake one. The sacked task force officials, pretending to still be working for AEPB, go to different locations where they are familiar with to continue intimidating, harassing and extorting money from hawkers.
At Area 11, Garki, Abuja, a roadside food vendor Grace (not real name) alleged that different sets of officials visit her shop virtually everyday to demand for financial gratification and sometimes, food, so they could allow her do her business peacefully:
“My brother, I am in a very big mess here. Virtually everyday of the week, some people claimed to be officials of AEPB come here to harass, intimidate and extort money from me. They are different groups that come. Some come in the morning while others come in the afternoon.
“They would come and perch in one corner and signal me. I will then give my girl money to give them. Sometimes, I give them N2,000 or above. They always threaten to disrupt my market if I fail to give them.
“I am not happy about it but I don’t have any option than to continue to play along so I can have peace. I don’t want any disruption in my business because I will run at a huge loss that day.”
Saminu Abdullahi hawks different items at a traffic junction by Access Bank at Ahmadu Bello Way, Garki, Abuja. He said the AEPB officials have dispossessed him of his goods on several occasions:
“Two or three of them would appear in a commando style and claim to be AEPB taskforce officials. They would swoop on me and some others in the traffic and seize our goods. Since the raid is at night, motorists prefer to speed off to safety, than make any attempt to help.
“They would then bundle us into their car or drag us somewhere nearby. Sometimes, they would take us to a corner, a few meters away from the junction and demand that we ‘settle’ them.
“This is what they have been doing until one day when myself and other hawkers confronted them
AEPB Head of Monitoring, Abubakar Hassan, said the management has received some unconfirmed reports that some sacked staff of AEPB, particularly the taskforce officials, still engage in illegal operations using the name of the board:
“We have not been able to lay our hands on anyone. But I can assure you that we would not hesitate to deal with anyone caught in such an illegal act. You are a journalist please help me get one so I can use him or her as a scapegoat.”
He, however, admitted that workforce depletes at weekends due to the fact that some of its workers take time off to rest: “All 700 members of our enforcement team are temporary workers. We have a large number of Christians among them who go to church on Sundays.
“Muslims among them also take out time to rest on Fridays and Saturdays. That has largely affected our operations at the weekends. That is why we always witness increased presence of destitute and hawkers in Abuja at weekends.”
