FCT, newspaper vendors on collision course
Another newspaper hawker, Ebenezer Ajayi, who resides in Lugbe and sells the national dailies at the busy federal secretariat complex said “the government cannot ban us from selling newspapers on the road because, they, too, patronize us. I have a lot of customers who are themselves government officials and they benefit from our services. This […]
Another newspaper hawker, Ebenezer Ajayi, who resides in Lugbe and sells the national dailies at the busy federal secretariat complex said “the government cannot ban us from selling newspapers on the road because, they, too, patronize us. I have a lot of customers who are themselves government officials and they benefit from our services. This is part of what we have been saying, that they want to systematically remove the poor people from Abuja. How else can you explain this kind of thing? Even under El-Rufai, with his no-nonsense policy, he did not stop us from selling newspapers of the streets.”
These were some of the reactions that have continued to trail the recent directive given by the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, AEPB, that all newspaper vendors in the city should stop practising their trade along the streets.
According to Dr. Abubakar Yabo,“In line with the policy of the FCT administration at sanitizing the environment, free of all forms of hawking and begging along all junctions and our streets in the FCT, newspaper vendors are not allowed to crisis-cross the road junctions in the name of selling of newspapers.”
He advised vendors to sell in their designated newspaper stands only, to avoid being arrested and prosecuted by enforcement officials of the FCT Ministerial Task Force. He also urged residents of the FCT to co-operate with the board to ensure that the city is clean and free from all forms of illegal trading, hawking and begging. One of the vendors who gave his name as Rabiu Mohammed lamented that, “we have been having this problem with them for a long time now. This is not the first time they will issue this type of order. The former minister, too, gave the directive. The fact is that we provide essential services to the public, even to the elite in the society, so nobody should disturb us.”
Investigations by this medium also revealed that the vendors are not alone in their protest. A regular buyer of newspapers, Emmanuel Okafor told Sunday Trust that “I think the directive will not only affect the newspaper vendors, it will also affect the buyers, too. The fact that these guys sell the papers along traffic areas makes it easy for me to buy the dailies. Now, confining them to a corner in the name of protecting the master plan or whatever reasons will cause buyers unnecessary stress because, one would have to walk down or drive out of way to get the papers.”
Another respondent, Joshua Ogidan, who lives in Prince and Princess Estate, Abuja explained that “everyday, on my way to work, while driving through the Central Area, I buy copies of the national dailies that catches my fancy, thereby saving me the stress of going all out of my way to get the paper. While I am not against the directive by the government, I believe the new policy will not only affect the vendors, but it will affect readers.”
While appealing to newspaper managements for support and solidarity, Ahmed Garba, a vendor along Ahmadu Bello way, Garki said, “we should not be alone in this matter. Journalists and newspaper owners, too, should assist us in persuading the government to shelve the idea. This is because our sales also affect the overall sales of newspaper companies and media houses. Besides, we are also beneficial to the general public who are enlightened by our activities. In most cases, drivers and other passers-by catch a quick glimpse of the headlines of national dailies. Though they won’t buy they would have had an idea of what the day’s major stories are,” he argued.