The member representing Ogbaru I constituency, and the Deputy Minority Leader of the Anambra State House of Assembly, Hon. Noble Igwe, has expressed his disappointment over the demolition of street businesses in Awka, the state capital, by government agencies. Last week, an enforcement team from the Awka Capital Development Authority – ACTDA and Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra – OCHA brigade, embarked on clearing street businesses around Awka metropolis in a manner that was considered illegal, highhanded, reckless, and destructive. The enforcers confiscated people’s wares and set them ablaze. They were also seen using machetes and hammers to destroy the business premises of street traders. Despite the outrage last week, the same pattern of enforcement has continued this week.
In a brief interview, Hon. Noble Igwe, who said he is speaking as a concerned Anambra man who understands what it means to set up a small-scale business and run, insisted that he knows exactly what the affected business people were up against. Describing the action as “barbaric,” Hon. Igwe said such actions by the enforcement team were illegal as they are unknown to the relevant law of the state. “A sensitive government will not behave in the manner the government enforcement is behaving towards these street traders. Their behaviour is more or less like touting. If someone is flouting the laws of the state, you punish them according to the provisions of the law. You can’t confiscate people’s goods, destroy them, burn them, use a machete, or use an axe, to intimidate traders, it is not fair. If they are violating the law; if they are doing something that is not good, there is a proper way to handle them. You can confiscate their goods and they will pay fine. You can also ask them to leave and if they fail to leave, you seal up the place without damaging those goods,” Hon. Igwe said regrettably.
Putting the prevailing economic situation into consideration, the honourable member said that such action by the enforcement is not in the best interest of Anambra State. “The economic situation now is very harsh. By destroying these goods, you are putting more pressure on them and making life far more difficult for them. What do you now want them to do? Become criminals and indulge in social vices? That action is not in the law. The law says that if anybody is found guilty of defacing the city, there is a certain amount they will pay as a fine. The law didn’t say their goods should be destroyed. That’s a commando way of doing things. It’s not a responsive government’s way. So, I condemn that action. It’s not good. It’s not good at all. They should devise another means,” he said.
Admitting that the street traders might be more than a handful sometimes, Hon. Noble Igwe still maintained that in any case, the government enforcement team should know and do better. “These women can be very adamant when you ask them to leave. Some of them would rather die there than leave. But the way the government is handling it, it’s not fair. They may have good intentions, but when you pursue your good intentions in the wrong way it becomes problematic. As a government, certain things must be done with a human face,” Hon. Noble Igwe averred.
He is a Technical Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano’s Special Adviser on Legislative Matters, whoonce was a Special Adviser to a former Deputy Speaker of Anambra State House of Assembly. Ebuka is a second class upper division graduate of Political Science from University of Calabar, Calabar Nigeria and holds a Masters Degree in Political Science with specialization in Government and Development Studies, from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka Nigeria
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