Friday, November 01, 2013

Change as Umuahia Traders Move

Emmanuel Ugwu writes that it’s different
strokes for Umuahia traders, who were
recently relocated to a new site by the state
government
The aphorism, which says that life begins at
forty may not hold true for traders at Umuahia
Main Market. To them, life actually begins with
the relocation of the market. “It is going to be
a new life. We are beginning afresh,” Austin
Aruoma moaned as he contemplated his future
at the new market where he and thousands of
other traders were moving to. He told
THISDAY that he had been trading at the
Umuahia market for the past 15 years and it
won’t be easy for him to move to a new
market and begin all over to make new
customers in a new environment. But he must
move. The state government had set October
23, 2013 as the deadline for the traders to
move to the new market, located some eight
kilometers from the present market. And on
this very day, Aruoma, who was visibly
distraught, was already packing his goods and
would probably take a last look at his store in
‘A’ Line section of the old market before saying
that final goodbye.
Moving down to “B” Line section of the
market, Benett Izugha was equally ruminating
about the fate that has befallen him as he
complied with government’s directive to move
to the new market. He had already packed his
goods and was waiting for a vehicle to carry
them out of the old market, which according to
him,” is now history”. To him relocating to the
new market was a case of starting life anew in
quick succession. He told THISDAY that he
only came back from Liberia six years ago and
was just beginning to pick up the pieces of his
life that was shattered by the civil war in that
country. “I was doing well in my business in
Liberia but the war changed everything for me
and after the war I came back to settle down
in 2007. It’s like I’m starting life anew and just
as I am picking my life I’ve been forced to start
life afresh yet again,” he lamented. Izugha said
that he practically returned with nothing from
Liberia and it was at the prompting of his
sister, “who felt that I have wandered so
much” that he came down to start making a
living at Umuahia Main Market. According to
him, after staying six years at the market, he
was just beginning to know people and was
buying goods on credit-based trust since he
didn’t have enough capital when he began life
at the market. His predicament was
compounded as he claimed that he could not
to afford to pay for a new shop at the new
market. “Right now I don’t even know where I
am going,” Izugha said.
Most of the traders know where they are
going. It is Ubani Ibeku where a 7, 000
purpose built modern market is waiting for
them. They had already opened their shops for
business. Mrs. Ahudiya Ebe Etim (a.k.a Asa
Babies) is among the first arrivals. She exuded
excitement as she displayed her goods in her
new shop. “For me the relocation to the new
market is very good. I am impressed,” she
said. Etim, who sells baby articles, told
THISDAY that for the seven years she stayed
at the old market she occupied a rented shop
but here at the new market she is a proud
owner of a new shop.” I am here for good; I am
here to make it in life,” she enthused, adding
that her shop “is strategically located”.
According to her, it was very difficult for her to
own a shop at the old market because they
were already taken up and there was no room
for new shops to be built.
Mr. Pius Nweke also shares the same
enthusiasm, saying that the relocation of the
market is a catalyst for development. He said
that there was no way the new market would
not affect development of the near-by
communities. Nweke, who was carrying his
baby girl as he waited for customers with his
wife, said that he had been a part of Umuahia
market since 1981 when he joined his father in
trading after his secondary education.
According to him, his father, who is from
Anambra State, settled in Umuahia in 1946
and owned a shop at the old market, which
was passed on to him on retirement. Nweke
said that he considered himself an Umuahia
man, having been born and raised in Abia’s
capital city and so was ready to move with the
market which has become a part of him. He
said that he was encouraged to relocate to the
new market when he saw that adequate
security was put in place by government,
unlike what obtained at the old market. Nweke
expressed appreciation to the chairman of the
market relocation committee “who despite his
age is spending sleepless nights to ensure
that the relocation to the new market has
become a success”.
More traders keep relocating by the day as
the old market is now desolate and confined to
history. Government said that all the
structures in the old market would be flattened
seven days after the relocation, which
commenced on October 21. Chairman of the
market relocation committee, Mr. Ebenezer
Offor said that over 5, 000 traders had been
allocated shops in the new market as at last
Friday.  He said that he was happy at the level
of cooperation by the traders, adding that: “We
did everything smoothly. They (traders) knew
they were moving out of the old market and
they didn’t resist,” he said. Pointing at the
electricity transformer being installed, he said
that the committee was keen on providing all
the facilities needed in the market to make the
environment conducive for commercial
activities. However, the market relocation
chairman acknowledged that the only
challenge they encountered in the provision of
amenities was water as efforts to sink
borehole failed due to the low water level of
the area. As a temporary measure, overhead
water tanks had been installed with five water
tankers dedicated to supply water to the
market while plans are on to sink borehole in a
nearby community and reticulate water to the
market.
Offor said that traders should not entertain
any fears of being left out in the allocation of
shops as the modern market has enough
shops to accommodate all traders that paid
for allocation. He said that contrary to
insinuations the allocation was being handled
with transparency and urged traders who were
yet to get shops not to panic as nobody would
be left out in the exercise. However, he
blamed traders for some observed multiple
allocations, noting that some traders used
names of their children and relatives to get
allocation. Offor promised that a verification
exercise would be conducted after the market
would have normalised to correct any
observed error in allocation of shops.
The Umuahia modern market is situated at
Ubani Ibeku, about eight kilometres from the
city centre. It sits on about 22 hectares of
virgin land on the northern edge of the capital
territory along the way to Uzuakoli. The
market comprises over 7, 000 lockup shops
arranged in blocks of buildings all crowned
with red long span roofing sheets. The inner
roads are spacious enough to accommodate
heavy vehicles that would be coming in to
discharge goods and the blocks of shops are
arranged with wide spaces in between to allow
for access for fire engines. The market has
facilities for fire station, banks, police station,
hospital and school. It is also provided with
three motor parks located at different parts of
the market. One of the parks is to be operated
by the National Union of Road Transport
Workers for commercial vehicles while the
other parks would serve private vehicle owners
who come to the market either as traders or
customers. The shuttle bus service set up by
government has already started operation,
conveying people to and from the city centre
to the new market at reduced fare of N50.
Soon, commercial bus operators would start
enjoying a business boom as they latch on the
new direction of commuting to the new market.
Tricycle (Keke) operators are also expected to
join the race.
   Abia State governor, Chief Theodore Orji saw
the building of the new market as a core
component of his legacy project. Though the
idea of relocating the old market from the city
centre had been on for 78 years, Orji vowed
that his administration would see the dream
come true. He refused to chicken out like his
predecessors including the colonial
administration that only mooted the idea but
backed out following hostility by traders afraid
of change.  To encourage the traders to accept
and flow with the inevitable change, the
governor had kept an open ear, listening to
their complaints and stepping in when
necessary to assuage their feelings. When
complaints rang high about the cost of
acquiring shops at the new market, Orji
reduced the payment for the allocation form to
N20, 000 while allocation fee was pegged at
N100, 000. He also made possible for the
traders to enjoy a spread of the period of full
payment for the shops, pegging it at four
years. To this end, after the relocation each
trader would be required to pay N300, 000
spread over a period of four years to take full
ownership of their shops. However, those who
did not own any shop in the old market and
are coming into the new market to own shop
would pay extra N100, 000.
This means that the shop owners in the old
market would pay a total amount of N400, 000
to become shop owners for life in the new
market while traders coming to the new market
and did not own in the old market would pay
N500, 000. Governor Orji justified the reduction
of the money payable by traders to acquire
shops in the new market, saying that the
project was not executed to make money for
government in the short-run as government
would eventually reap the revenue benefits in
the long run. His major motivation remains to
free the capital city for expansion, reclaim the
original master plan and the aesthetics
therein.
Nonetheless some traders had expressed
misgivings over the relocation as was usually
the case when change comes knocking. They
grumbled over everything concerning the
relocation of the old market ranging from the
timing, commercial dislocation, cost of shops,
distance of the new market, fears of insecurity,
among other sundry excuses. Okorowu Obi,
who said he had been trading in the old
market since 1970 said that he was not ready
to move to the new market because he was
not satisfied with the allocation procedure and
the timing of the relocation as well as the cost
of shop. He told THISDAY that he only packed
his things at his shop in the old market to
comply with government directive that traders
should leave the old market. He said those in
his shoes “are taking our goods to our home.”
He said he has no idea how long he would
stay at home. “I will stay at home till I get
money to rent a shop or I’ll go back to my
village, stay there till the end of my life,” he
said.

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