Wuse Market
The Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) on Monday issued a 74-hour quit notice to hawkers within and outside the popular Wuse market in Abuja.
The board said the dirty market environment which is caused by hawking activities – among other reasons – has compelled it to swing into action.
In a statement signed by the Head of Information and Outreach Programme, Joe Ukairo, AEPB said the hawkers should leave or face the consequence of disobeying the order.
Ukairo disclosed that officials of the board in December embarked on an exercise to clear the city of street beggars and destitute people.
“Most streets of the Federal Capital City have been raided by our enforcement squad and quite a large number of beggars and destitute people have been arrested and taken to the Abuja Rehabilitation Centre in Bwari.”
“The renewed drive and strategy comprising surprise and undercover operations, is already yielding positive results,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, some traders who spoke with DailyPost said they had nowhere to go.
A second-hand clothes seller, Tony, who displayed his ware in front of a Ecobank building, said the situation of the country has made lives unbearable for the traders. He lamented that the high the cost of lock-up shops had skyrocketed, adding that they could never afford it.
Tony further accused some government officials from Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and AEPB from collecting tolls from them weekly.
“They can chase us, but it shall never be well with them because some AMAC and even AEPB boys sometimes come here to collect space money from us,” he said.
AEPB is the regulatory body statutorily charged with the responsibility of protecting and managing the Federal Capital Territory environment. It was established under the AEPB Act No. 10 of 1997.
Its agents are sometimes met with resistance by the traders, a development which necessitated the security personnel that presently escort the board officials.
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