EditorialTHEWILL Editorial: Lagos And The Ban On Street Trading, Hawking

THEWILL Editorial: Lagos And The Ban On Street Trading, Hawking

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SAN FRANCISCO, July 25, (THEWILL) – Street trading and hawking are common features in Lagos State, which seem to have defied solutions since the creation of the state. While some inhabitants have called on the government to proffer a permanent solution, the situation has assumed various dimensions over the decades. In some cases, the hawkers and street traders have taken to various crimes targeted at law-abiding citizens of the state.

Early this year, the Governor Akinwunmi Ambode-led state government enacted a law banning street trading and hawking. Since then, hell has been let loose against them. The paramilitary brigade, Kick Against Indiscipline, KAI, which is charged with the enforcement, has been going after them, seizing their goods, extorting and fining them exorbitantly.

Some unfortunate ones have reportedly been imprisoned by the mobile courts set up for this purpose. Over time, many have died from frustration arising from losses incurred on their wares, which they often take loans to procure.

According to Data from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, published in November 2015, the rate of the unemployed or underemployed people in Nigeria is over 50 per cent. Unfortunately, the army of unemployed people is still soaring, especially in Lagos, which is the economic nerve centre of Nigeria.

Most hitherto employed people are losing their jobs daily due to the deteriorating state of the economy. It is the duty of government the world over to cater for its citizens. Unfortunately, with government unable to provide jobs or favourable atmosphere for business, these hawkers and street traders, at great risks to their lives, struggle daily to survive.

Last month, a fast-moving vehicle killed one hawker while fleeing from KAI brigade. The situation caused mayhem on the Ikorodu expressway, as sympathetic colleagues reacted spontaneously, destroying many state-owned BRT buses and other government property.

There are reports that most of the seized goods are shared among the KAI officials, who have constituted themselves into street warlords. Lagos state government, like the federal government, is failing in its duty by not providing jobs for the people or creating a conducive atmosphere for self-employment.

Since the citizens, including the aged, are not paid any form of stipend or assisted in anyway to make ends meet, government lacks the moral right to scuttle their efforts to earn a honest living. Government at all levels must be told that Nigerians voted them into power to provide for them and protect their interest.

So far, the street traders and hawkers have become endangered species in Lagos.

THEWILL therefore urges Lagos government to give human face to this obnoxious law. It should be reminded that there is a limit to human endurance, as shown in the spontaneous reaction that followed the killing of that hawker on Ikorodu road.

It would be recalled that in 2010, policemen in Tunisia seized the vegetables of a jobless hawker. His efforts to seek audience with the municipal officials yielded no result. In frustration, he set himself ablaze. This ignited the Arab spring which swept the Tunisian dictator, Zine el Abidine, out of power.

THEWILL urges the state government to immediately suspend the enforcement of this inhuman law until it has created a better enabling environment for the affected traders. Often times, even an unfortunate sachet water hawker can be bundled into a BlackMaria and driven like a criminal to Alausa, the seat of government, where they are made to part with sums ranging from N10, 000 to N50, 000 before they are let off.

Governor Ambode must be reminded that the purpose of government is to provide and care for the people, majority of those are in the category of those affected by this law.

It is therefore government’s duty to provide for these vulnerable people. No government, which abdicates its primary responsibility, has the right to treat people who voted them into power like cows, just because they try to survive legitimately. This law is unjust and calculated to suppress the poor who are already overburdened by the harsh realities of a failing economy.

THEWILL urges the state government to build affordable shops and provide space for these people to survive. The rate of unemployment in Nigeria is now so high that more than half of the population finds it difficult to eke out a living. Adding punitive measures to their lives therefore is not only insensitive but wicked.

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