‘Cat and Mouse’ game as AEPB battle hawkers

She was trying really hard not to cry. But her battle to remain composed soon evaporates when a solitary tear rolls down her weather beaten cheeks. Her protruding belly points clearly to an advanced stage of pregnancy. In the hot mid morning blaze, she is once more at her sales point located at the ever […]

She was trying really hard not to cry. But her battle to remain composed soon evaporates when a solitary tear rolls down her weather beaten cheeks. Her protruding belly points clearly to an advanced stage of pregnancy. In the hot mid morning blaze, she is once more at her sales point located at the ever bustling Berger bus stop. A basin of ‘okpa’ (a local delicacy) is in front of her as she calls out faintly to would be customers. A young lady walks over to buy a wrap of the yellowish food and momentarily a smile breaks out on her face as she stretches forth her one of her hands to grasp the rumpled note in the customer’s hands while using the other to lift a wrap of her steaming product.

‘I hardly make any profit selling this food. Despite this I have to wake up as early as 1am daily to prepare the food. Transporting it down from my house in the outskirts is another challenge. But at the end of the day what do I make after I have settled the task force? Nothing! I am getting fed up with life. Just a moment ago they came again attacking us. I had to part with some money in order to have my food returned. What do they want from us? As am speaking to you I am really tired of the treatment the government is giving to us,’ she finally opens up to the reporter the source of her inner anguish.

She is not alone in her plight though. A young man in the age bracket of 15t o 20 saunters over to her side with another large bowl of okpa for sale. He is an interesting youth who would have made a great activist going by his unabashed vituperations over their suffering at the hands of the task force empowered by the FCT administration to remove street hawkers from its numerous streets. He enthuses energetically: ‘I am just returning from where I fled to when they came again this morning. I had to run for cover behind those trees you can see at the back there. Some of us ran up the trees in order to escape the task force. At the end I was caught by one of them. But when I begged him he offered to release me if I pay him N200 which I quickly did knowing that I will pay at least N5000 if I am taken to their office in area 3. But what pained me most was when I saw them harassing this pregnant woman. Some of them were even threatening to deal with her. It was when she gave them a thousand naira that they released her goods. We are tired of their constant attacks on us and we want the government to assist us. We have no other source of income apart from the little we make daily from sales and this is getting smaller by the day after we have to ‘settle’ the task force.’

Allegations of high handedness and corruption are being constantly levied against members of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, AEPB by the hawkers. In the heat of spirited outcry against street trading by the public, a task force was set up by the board to drive off street traders especially the underage ones. It is now a regular sight to see bus loads of these operatives springing traps on equally alert street traders in virtually all the parts of the city. The expected ‘cat and mouse’ relationship has led to many accidents as some of the hawkers in desperate attempts to flee the rampaging task force are usually hit by oncoming vehicles. Many equally lose their wares in the rush to evade the arms of the law. A cross section of hawkers spoken with say they have paid sums ranging from N200 to N5000 to task force officials for their offences. None of them say they collected receipts for such payments.

Joseph Akpo, a mobile marketer on buses urges the government to call the task force to order particularly concerning their assaults on underage traders. ‘I have had cause to see these assaults on a daily basis due to the nature of my work. I see them chasing these kids across the busy road not minding if they get run over by vehicles. Many of the kids are just trying to survive in a country that has obviously forgotten them. Yet the task force treats them despicably. Many of them have their goods seized and for the unlucky young girls, they are sexually molested by some of these young men acting as task force. Their operations need to be closely monitored.’

Head of information and public enlightenment, AEPB, Joe Ukairo in an interaction with our reporter however expresses sadness over misinformation about the true state of things. ‘The issue of hawking and the control of same has also been a challenge; but the AEPB is equal to the task. Hawking is illegal under the AEPB Act of 1997. There is no amount of sentiment or “pity party” that can legalize that; apart from another Act of the Parliament. The public see us as inhumane and insensitive but that is not true. We are here to regulate the environment. To ensure that whatever activity that is going on in our environment is done within the provisions of the law and the carrying capacity of the environment. The overriding public interest principle is employed to balance individuals right vis a vis ensuring compliance to environmental regulation. We are not against small business but government through its relevant agencies can only support those businesses been carried out within the authorised location or premises. In any civilized society, law and order MUST be observed in all human endeavour. It must also be noted that our staff on daily basis are been manhandled and beaten up by the hawkers who see our efforts to sanitize the city as an obstruction to their daily means of livelihood. They have caused much bodily harm to the staff, destroyed wind shields of operational vehicles even set a hilux van ablaze.’

He reiterates the alternate provision being made for street hawkers:  ‘the AEPB and Social Development Secretariat (SDS) have been working together to remove the destitute and beggars from the streets. SDS has three rehabilitation centres at Kuchiko, Yangoji and Karmajiji respectively. The inmates were been trained on various handwork to enable them take care of themselves outside the streets. The SDS has also explored sending them back to their states but that has not yielded the expected result as the beggars are known to return to FCT. It is believed that one of the most challenging reason for the re emergence of the beggars is greed. They are not content with the “little” that comes to them at the rehabilitation centres. Furthermore, the public are not helping the matter. People are known to give out quite some money to the beggars on the streets on daily basis. Thereby making staying in the streets more lucrative for them’

But for young Haruna, who sells refreshments at some of the busiest bus stops in town, this option is misplaced. ‘Soldiers have started to copy their mode of operation as they also raid us nowadays. Once they catch us you will have to bail yourself with money or part of your goods if you do not have money. Many of us readily agree to pay because if you are taken to their office you will suffer more and possibly lose all your goods,’ he says.

An elderly woman, who sells soft drinks and her young female child look fearfully at the reporter when he approaches them. But they quickly launch into tales of woes when the reporter’s identity is verified. The girl is more direct: ‘We spent about a week in their detention. When we didn’t have any money to pay as usual, they locked us up and seized our goods. It was after about a week that we escaped custody when the guard assigned to us slept off on duties. My mother sustained injuries during the raid that has not yet healed. Many others are still languishing in their detention rooms even as we speak,’ she says in pidgin.