Traders in Rivers State have described the state governor, Nyesom Wike, as a man with no human sympathy for shutting down markets without making alternative plans to ease businesses, thereby exposing them to multiple hardship.

On the first day of 2021, Mr. Wike announced plans to clamp down on street trading such as unlicensed kiosks, illegal motor parks, taxi stops, mechanic workplaces.

Peoples Gazette learnt that the majority of these street traders are breadwinners whose shops at one point have been either locked or demolished by the government.

But, with the recent directive by the governor to clampdown on all street trading, traders whose shops were locked earlier are currently facing double issues.

Mr. Wike in March 2020, announced the shutdown of all markets in the state to arrest the scourge of the coronavirus.

He later directed markets to open except for the Oginigba Slaughter market and the Oil Mill market.

The Gazette in December 2020 reported how traders at the two markets are facing hardship due to the governor’s refusal to allow reopening of the stalls.

Since then, traders from these markets have been forced to settle by the roadside to sell their goods to fend for themselves and the family.

While some traders at the Oginigba Slaughter market sell beside the Port Harcourt Zoo, traders at the Oil mill market sell by the roadside near their lockup shops.

The traders are not only facing the economic downturn caused by the pandemic, they are also faced with the impact of multiple taxations collected by roadside touts claiming to be government agents.

The Gazette on Friday visited this locations and observed how traders at the Oginigba Slaughter market were constantly harassed by hooligans for failure to pay tax fee of N200 or N100, depending on the quantity of goods.

A tomato grocer by the roadside at the Okujagu junction, beside Port Harcourt zoo said they are made to pay multiple times in a day.

The Gazette witnessed a quarrel between the tomato seller and the hooligans. Other witnesses told the Gazette that the squabble started when the hooligan demanded N200 from the trader who declined because she is yet to make sales, and requested he come in hours. The hooligan refused.

The trader told the gazette that every day they pay up to N200 to the hooligans who claim the roadside are community properties.

Earlier, the Gazette spotted three traders selling their perishable goods at the previous spot -the roadside where government task force had chased them.

They separately told the Gazette that the illegal tax collected from the Oginigba traders whose shops were locked by Mr. Wike at the Okujagu junction is unbearable as they can’t continue paying without reasonable sales.

They told the Gazette that although taxes are paid inside the Oginigba Slaughter market, it was not done in the brazen manner the youth of Okujagu are doing.

They appeal to Governor Wike to reopen the market to enable them do their businesses and leave the ever-busy road.

In a related development, governor Wike imposed a two-week curfew on the entire Rumuokoro flyover up to a one-kilometer radius from, Saint Emmanuel Anglican Church, extending to Rumuodomaya Slaughter and the local government daily market, with effect from November 23.

Mr. Wike said no form of trading of any kind, human or vehicular movement were also prohibited, except for Julius Berger contractors working on the overhead bridge.

The curfew is yet to be lifted to date, but residents walk miles before getting commercial vehicles while shops are still under lock and key.

Over two hundred shops in Rumuokoro and Rumuodomaya areas have been closed by the state government. The government said it will reopen the shops when the flyover is commissioned.

The Gazette learnt that some of the people who purchased their goods during the yuletide seasons are yet to sell off their goods.

Traders in these areas have restocked their shops in anticipation of brisk yuletide business, but the governor’s decision collapsed their business hopes.

A trader, Agnes Ikpo told the Gazette that majority of the clothes purchased for yuletide season were bought on credit with the hope of repayment after sales early January, “but with the lockdown of the market, I can’t pay for the goods, and I can’t also return it to my customers in Lagos because, they won’t take it”, Ms. Ikpo said.

Some of the traders separately told the Gazette that their rents are to expire in January and February, and goods bought from Lagos on credit are yet to be sold.

Others lamented that customers whose goods have been partly paid for and were supposed to be collected in December are still not delivered.

A phone repairer told the Gazette that customers have been on his neck to collect their phones, but the governor’s refusal to reopen shops are affecting his business.

Motor parks in the Rumuokoro area are also shut down. Commercial vehicles now load passengers on the major roads.

The accounts of illegal taxation are not just peculiar to traders behind the Port Harcourt Zoo. Those at Rumuokoro areas as well faced multiple unreceipted taxation.

Some traders who decided to sell on Rumuagholu street, beside the ongoing uncompleted flyover, due to the continued closure of Rumuokoro major market face constant harassment from illegal tax collectors.

On Saturday, the Gazette watched how monies were collected by some hooligans from traders selling at Rumuagholu. An onion seller was harassed for failing to pay N100.

The governor last year banned all forms of taxation from traders, yet some community youth have snubbed the governor’s directives.

The gazette learnt the shutdown of markets and shops opened doors for illegal taxations.

A fabric seller told the gazette that “different people collect monies. In a day, you will see different sets of boys demanding payment for selling on the street but when markets were opened, it was not like that”.

Another clothes seller said the governor’s new task force sometimes comes to chase traders but, “the boys here will pay them from the money collected and they will let us sell.”

Civil society organizations in the state have frowned at the governor’s decision to allow traders to suffer amid the pandemic. They condemned the governor’s decision to prioritize flyovers over humans.

Spokesperson to the state government, Paulinus Nsirim, did not respond to multiple calls and text messages for the government’s position on illegal taxations and plans to reopen the markets.