An Internally Displaced Person (IDP) in Abuja, Ali Ibrahim said that the days of sleeping with empty stomach in his family has returned again.
He said this while reacting to the demolition of Area One mini market by the federal government in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja where he owns a shop.
Standing beside his temporary food stall near the remains of his former shop while granting an interview to this reporter, Ibrahim said his only source of income is selling local food in the market, and that a day without it will mean no food to eat in his house for that day.
Ibrahim, a husband of two and father of six, is a local food vendor, who relocated to the city about two decades ago, after his community in Gwoza local government area of Borno State was ransacked and occupied by the dreaded Boko-Haram terrorist group.
‘’I started selling local food in this market about 18 years ago, it is my only business since coming here. I came straight from Gwoza when Boko-Haram took over our community and if you look around, you will find many IDPs like myself in this market who come from Gwoza and other places, doing all kinds of petty jobs here,’’ he said.
He also said that he earned not less than N5,000 profit daily, which he used to take food home every day, but the demolition has plunged him into extreme poverty.
Like Ibrahim, eight of his employees were also rendered jobless among thousand others at the market.
The demolition exercise started on Wednesday Morning, January 17, and continued the following day.
According to several sources interviewed in the market, over 300 shops, containers and temporary stalls were destroyed, including a Mosque and a commercial bathrooms and toilet, popularly known as ‘Gidan Wanka’ in Hausa dialect, meaning ‘bath-house.’
They also noted that over ten thousand people work or do businesses in the market.
‘’It is not a large market but it will be hard to capture the accurate number of business people in it because many comes every day to do their businesses and go without having any physical structure like a shop, stall or shade and hundreds of people also spend their nights in their shops,’’ Wakil Babagana, another victim of the demolition said.
A barber at Area One mini market, Mr. Wakil, aged 30, is another IDP from Borno State, whose shop was demolished on Wednesday.
Also a graduate of Higher National Diploma (HND), he said he came to Abuja two years ago after he failed to secure a job, four years after his graduation and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) year.
‘‘My ambition was to join force after graduation, but I have tried several times, including enrolling in training and screening but all in vein, and at some points, bribes were demanded from us to be enlisted,’’ Wakil explained.
He said that his decision to come to Abuja is not only to earn a living but to prove to the federal government that they are not ‘’lazy youths’’.
Another victim of the demolition, Blessing John said she is thinking of going back to her town in Niger State because she cannot survive in the city after losing their shop.
Blessing is a mother of two who also runs a local restaurant in the market with six other workers and some of them use the shop as shelter.
‘’Now that it has been demolished, we have not only lost our source of income but the roof over our heads,’’ she said.
While they continue to spend their nights in the street, Blessing said they are still hesitating to see what will happen next in the area for few more days.
The victims said that this is about the sixth time the market is demolished but would later be revived.
On all occasions they said, there was never any compensation for their lost and that notice to vacate the place usually comes only 24 hours before the demolition.
While nursing for their losses during the demolition, the victims said they are not ready to leave the premises as they are hoping to accommodate and rebuild it again.
‘’You cannot snatch people’s job just like that without providing an alternative or any compensation and expect them to just go home and stay idle.
‘’We are still squatting around doing our regular businesses but out of fear of being chased by the police because they usually come unannounced and when they are gone, we come back again,’’ a POS agent who wants to stay anonymous said.
HISTORY OF THE MARKET
Area One mini market is an extension of Gwagwalada motor park, located around Area One roundabout, Central Area District, Abuja.
The market has several shops, containers, and other small stalls and shades where people engage in trading activities.
The business at the market includes local food vendors, provision stores, tailoring, mechanic workshops, car washing, phones and other electronics sells and repairs, barbing saloons, POS operators, cooking gas refilling, tea joints, shoe making, laundry services, herbal medicines and others trading activities.
According to the occupants, the market is more than three decades old and has witnessed several demolitions by government, but would later be revived by the same occupants gradually, while further expansions were made within the years.
‘‘I came to this place and setup my mechanic workshop around 1992 and it was bushy at that time. I just cleared some space and started hosting customers, except for few houses, I was the only business person here at that time,’’ Garuba Lawan, a father of nine narrated.
He explained further that getting a spot at the market was initially free and undocumented but was later organized and allocation fee, annual rent, monthly and other taxes were introduced by official of the market and the name ‘Area One Mini Market’ was introduced.
‘‘I came to this place 22 years ago and I didn’t pay any money for allocation but when the market became formal about ten years ago, I paid N600,000 for registration and N5,000 monthly charges,’’ a car wash owner who wants to be recognized as AY said.
The food vendor Ibrahim also said he pays N100 daily, N5,000 monthly and N45,000 annually as rent fee and tax to the market managers.
‘’The market officials are not government workers but private people who told us they have partnership with government agencies on the market management,’’ AY added.
REASON FOR THE DEMOLITION
Area one is recognized as one of the hot-beds for criminal activities in Abuja, particularly drugs trading.
It is one of the black spots in the city that has drawn security attention for many years, within which several raids were carried out by security officials to fish out drug dealers and other criminal elements.
Therefore, many believes that the demolition is not unconnected to the criminal activities associated with the area.
‘’It is true that some bad elements engage in drugs in this place, it has been going on for years and the authorities knows that, but it is not enough excuse to destroy other people’s means of livelihood because of a few,’’ another victim maintained anonymity for security reasons said.
He added that, ‘’what the authorities do not understand is that those drug dealers do not have shops or any physical structure here, they walk around and operate with their products on themselves.’’
However, efforts to get information from officials on the reason for the latest demolition prove abortive as an officer who is said to be in-charge of the exercise declined to comment to this reporter.
According to the market people, they heard rumors that the Jabi Motor Park would be relocated to the Gwagwalada park, hence the need for expansion for adequate space.
Also, some of them believe that their services are essential to the park with or without the expansion.
‘’Food is an essential need in any motor park, so I don’t see the reason for demolishing our restaurant,’’ Madam Stella Ogba said.
Like many others, Mrs. Stella is also not ready to leave the market for whatever reason, therefore she will ‘‘continue to stay around and wait for any eventualities, because right now, I don’t know where to start looking for another place to continue my business.’’
