From Karen James,
Nnewi
The Chairman, Traders Union known as General Goods Dealers Association of Kano/Okwei Street, Chief Chukwunonso Ihejiagwa has said that illegal revenue collectors in the market have bred unending traffic gridlock in the area.
Chief Ihejiagwa lamented over the precarious situation that legitimate traders of General Goods Dealers Association Kano/Okwei Street Onitsha traders passed through in the hands of those illegal revenue collectors that apportioned road side spaces to traders thereby causing untold traffic gridlock in the market.
He noted that the Kano/Okwei street access roads had been illegally allocated to the highest bidder by people in authority as stated by the illegal revenue collectors met by News Echo, collecting levies from the traders stationed on the access road within the market causing heavy obstruction along the road as road users, vehicles finds it difficult to navigate the access roads of Kano and Okwei street leading to Onitsha main market.
Investigating the market areas, News Echo observed that traders were stationed on the access roads, doing their business with ease without any form of fear as they boasted of paying for their portion as allocated to them by the revenue collectors. The collectors collected daily levies of #200 from the road side traders depending on the size of portion that was rented to the trader.
Moreover, Chief Ihejiagwa added that apart from the road obstruction the action generates, it also breads criminality as they have had incidences of pick pocketing due to overcrowding caused by the road side trading on the access roads within the market.
Speaking further, he pleaded with the state government to intervene and clear the mess caused by the illegal revenue collectors and their collaborators.
However, calls placed to the Commissioner for Commerce for comments on the situation did not go through as at the time of filling this report.
