Bauchi traders, govt agency at loggerheads over eviction order

By Rukayat Akanbi, Bauchi

Small scale traders at Bauchi Central Market have lamented over the three months eviction notice given to them by the state government while pleading for a new location.

The traders have also pleaded to the state government to help build the shops at the new location as the notice was too sudden.

The government had about 90 days agoallocated new plots to the traders at Muda Lawal market, also given notice to the traders to quit the Centeral Market as a result of the traffic congestion caused on the roads.

Leader of the amalgamated small scale traders who led the protest to the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Bauchi on Thursday Alhaji Mu’azu Chiroma said the affected businessmen could not afford to build the shops in the new location within the stipulated period.

He asked the state governor Bala Mohammed to extend the period of the vacation, give them loans to build new shops or build it for them so they would pay in installments.

“We were given three months to build the shops at the new location but the notice is too short. We cannot build them in the deadline because we are small scale traders.

“We appealed for loans to bulid the new  shops or the government on compassionate ground should build for us,” he said.

When contacted, the chairman of the taskforce on the market who doubles as the chairman Bauchi state Road Transport Agency (BAROTA) Air Commodore Tijjani Baba Gamawa (Rtd) insisted that government would not extend the deadline urging the affected traders to vacate the area in the next 48 hours.

According to him, the traders who sell commodities near road outside the market cause serious traffic difficulties around the area saying that was what informed the decision to evict the affected businessmen.