Gloria Yolanda is a 35-year-old trader at Gosa Market, Airport Road Abuja, and was making appreciable profit before the demolition of the market penultimate Friday left her helpless. She claimed they were not given prior notice and that all her properties were destroyed in the demolition.
She alleged also that she and other women lost about 500 bags of rice and maize because the store in which they kept their goods was bulldozed in the exercise.
Mohammed Daniel, 24, used to sell beans and rice at the market. He said he lost 10 bags of the grains valued at about N200,000 when the bulldozers came rolling. He said he also sustained injuries during the demolition.
The president of Gosa Market Women Association, Ladi Danladi, said she lost goods worth N240,000 in the demolition. She said repaying the bank that gave her a loan may now be difficult.
The dust may have settled on the recent protest that led to the blockage of the Airport Road but the last has not been heard of the problem. While the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) ensured that the market was opened to residents and traders last Friday, the need to compensate the traders and farmers lingers.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has said it would invite all those involved in the demolition to ascertain that due process was followed.
Some indigenes people in the territory have promised to engage the FCTA should it fail to compensate the affected people.
The spokesman of the coalition of FCT indigenous associations, Yunusa Ahmadu Yusuf, said the provision of a new place to traders was an after thought, adding that the government ought to have provided and relocated the traders to the new site before embarking on the demolition.
“This thing is what he should have done long ago; he shouldn’t have demolished the market without considering the people. Whatever we are doing is after we have caused so much pain to the motorists due to the road blockade after we must have caused so much to the traders,” he said.
He however commended the minister of the FCT for the plan to compensate affected people.
“The minister has committed himself; we are going to engage the minister to ensure he lives to the promises he has made. We are not going to allow the minister promise us as a politician but we will engage him to make sure that whatever he promised is fulfills,” he said.
Danladi said, “Promises like compensating the traders and making sure that the market is permanent in the community are the kind of things that we will always remind him of.”
Demolition of some sections of the market, one of the popular local goods markets in the territory, generated tension which led to the protest and blockage of the Airport Road for three days.
Our reporter, who was at the market last Friday, observed that though now dustier and rowdier, several people turned out en masse to shop in preparation of the long holidays and Easter celebration. People had to walk long distances leaving the market covered with dust.
A resident, Comfort Gbenga, said she had to leave the market early because she could not walk the distance and cope with the rowdiness there.
Unlike Comfort, however, Anu Adeleye, said she had to walk the long distance and almost bought all her needs, but for her five months baby who needed attention.
While all seemed well at the market and trading has resumed, the traders affected by the demolition say they still await government’s response on the need to compensate them for the losses they suffered.
In his response, the Director Engineering Services of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Engr. Shehu Hadid, said the market was demolished because of its proximity to the expressway.
“It usually causes traffic jam on the road leading to the airport and the market needed to be demolished for the security and safety on the roads,” he said.
The Sarkin Kasuwa, Wakili Istifanus, expressed hope that the government will live up to its words and compensate the affected traders because they were not properly informed about the demolition.
The Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Oti Ovrawah, said the commission will invite “all those” involved in the demolition.
Ovrawah, who was at the market, said, “We came here to protect their economic life and their human rights.”
She said there were various procedures to be followed before demolition and the commission will seek to know if the procedures were followed.
She said the protest will also be investigated.
Meanwhile, the Coordinator of the Satellite Town Development Department (STDD), an agency of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), Tanko Yamau, has said farmers affected by the relocation of the Gosa market will be compensated.
Yamau said all the economic trees on the land owned by farmers were assessed before the land was cleared to make way for traders.
He said the farmers could not be compensated before the trees were cleared because the FCTA did not want to deny residents the opportunity to trade in the market on the day of the demolition.
“The farmers will count all the trees in their lands as economic trees and will be paid. The payment will come after the clearing, but the record will be there. We don’t want people to be denied the opportunity to trade in the market, that is why we are clearing without paying compensation and by the grace of God compensation will be paid after the clearing,” he assured.
“We have set up a committee to arrange how to move other markets on the roadside. It is not going to be immediate, but a gradual process. We must locate a new site and clear it before moving other markets,” he said.
