Life at Nasarawa’s market-turned-housing estate
Ibrahim said: “I started trading in Abuja before coming to the International Market and I now live here. I cannot return to my village because if I am able to make sales of N10,000 here, I will make less than N1,000 in the village.” He added that after the quit notice, people were busy discussing […]
Ibrahim said: “I started trading in Abuja before coming to the International Market and I now live here. I cannot return to my village because if I am able to make sales of N10,000 here, I will make less than N1,000 in the village.” He added that after the quit notice, people were busy discussing how they would return their wives and children home because they cannot afford high rent charges in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Although he did not specify the deadline, Al-Makura has given marching orders to men of the Mobile Police Squad, artisans and women believed to be prostitutes to vacate the Karu International Market. He said the stores and office apartments at the market have not been allotted to traders but they have been taken over by persons using them as living quarters while a section of it has been turned into a temporary barracks for men of the Mobile Police Squad. He also observed that other sections of the market are occupied by sundry artisans including traders, commercial motorists and motorcycle riders and women of easy virtue.
A policeman, who withheld his identity, said he was on a journey when the governor paid the visit, but said: “I have been transferred to Delta State and will soon leave.” He’s not affected, obviously. But what about Sgt. Musa Bako? He enthused that because most occupants of the market location are policemen, their presence had provided adequate security to the area and its neighbourhood. He said when they came to the market, they met people there but who had now left on their own volition because they have found better accommodation. He agreed that the market is not designed as a residential area thus no one has the intention of making the place a permanent home. “We shall all leave like those before us. We seem to be delaying because accommodation is too expensive in the FCT. We will be grateful if the governor can give us two years to monitor the situation before his tenure expires,” the sergeant pleaded.
Odido James, a resident squatting with his brother, said the governor had not taken the final decision that the occupants of the market should leave but he was angry at agricultural activities going on in the area. “There are soldiers, regular and mobile policemen living in the market. I followed the governor as he moved from place to place at the market. He was angry about people turning the International Market into farmland but he neither concluded nor drew the deadline for occupants,” said James.
After the governor’s visit, residents of the International Market have been thinking of delegating people to plead with him to bestow them with executive mercy. According to one Mr. R. James, with wives, children and other dependants, many people have failed in their attempts to secure accommodation in the FCT and have turned to the International Market.
Another policeman said people prefer the International Market because it is an open place with adequate security, unlike other shanty areas. “If you visit Akwu village, you will see how one door faces the other closely, as if occupants of both rooms are members of the same family and there are a lot of criminal activities going on there. The closer you move towards the FCT, the higher the crime rate. How do we relocate to an environment where bomb-blast has become a call-to-prayer?”
When business was not booming for some residents of the FCT, they relocated to the International Market. Mr Joshua Chinakachucwu, victim of this situation said he took up manual labour for N1,500 to sustain his family. “When people calculate my monthly earnings, they arrive at N45,000 but there are many days we waste transport fares to the FCT without getting a bag of cement to mix. I give my children money daily to go to school. I cannot boast of N2,000 at the end of the month because apart from the unreliable nature of manual labour, the harder the work, the more one consumes. Where will I get N120,000 to rent apartment in the neighbourhood of the FCT?” Joshua asked.
Confirming the statement that it used to be a hideout for men of the underworld, a dry-cleaner who gave his name as AbdulKareem Tanko Ataa da Dust from Igata in Nasarawa State disclosed that when they came to the market, there were mattresses in some shops which they suspected belonged to people of questionable character because no one came to ask for them. When the then Inspector-General of Police Mike Okiro heard of persisting crime in the area, he allowed policemen to occupy the market. Civilians took advantage of the situation and joined them. AbdulKareem said it will take at least six years before all the shops would be occupied therefore if policemen are evacuated from the area, robbers will be operating from the other end.
Responding to the evacuation order from the governor, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, ASP Richard Akoji confirmed to Weekly Trust that the governor said any policeman living there is acting illegally. “Police authorities have no hand in their illegal occupation of the multi-million naira market. I have no official knowledge of any policeman living there,” he said.
But last week, one Mr. James Egwuche, one of the people who own farmlands in the International Market told Weekly Trust that when they settled at the market two years ago, the place was very bushy. People defecated in the bushes and even close to doorways because there was no landlord or care-taker to caution them. Individuals then decided to clear the bushes to put an end to the embarrassment. That was how the idea of farming came into being. “Even after planting crops here, people still maneuver their ways to defecate on our farms. So what do you think will happen if the whole area is a bush? This is an uncompleted market project without toilet facilities. We decided to do something to save the situation ourselves,” said James.