AUGUST 8, 2013
The traders.
Some traders in the popular Computer Village, Ikeja, Lagos State, have accused officials of the Kick Against Indiscipline of exploitation and corruption.
They made the accusation after KAI officials sealed off 10 plazas in the market on last Thursday morning based on allegation that their surroundings were dirty.
The traders said they were preparing to begin cleaning their premises on the fateful day when the KAI officials stormed the area and locked up the plazas.
It was learnt that the traders in each of the shut plazas were made to pay between N100,000 and N200,000 as fine and N50,000 as “administrative charge” before the plazas were re-opened.
While the fines were paid into the ‘Ministry of Environment Services KAI’ account in a new generation bank in Alausa, the administrative charges were paid in one of the KAI offices, also in Alausa.
The fines were said to have been imposed by a magistrate who did not summon the traders to defend themselves.
Our correspondent, who was at the Computer Village at about 10am on Friday, followed some of the traders in one of the plazas to the headquarters of KAI in Alausa.
About 11.41am, an officer, Balogun Razak, held brief talks with the traders outside the complex. A few of the traders were later taken into KAI’s compound.
Some minutes past 12noon, they came out and reported that their initial fine of N250,000 had been reduced to N200,000.
Some of them went to pay N150,000 into the KAI account and returned with a copy of the teller.
Later, two of the traders entered into one of the KAI offices and paid N50,000 cash. When the traders came out from the office, they showed our correspondent a receipt of only N150,000.
The traders faulted the closure of their plazas, saying they had not experienced such since they started trading in the Computer Village.
One of them, Ademola Ibidun, said, “On Wednesday, we saw some KAI officials coming to the Computer Village and they were checking some gutters. Somebody told me that they said they were coming to lock the plazas the following day (Thursday). We thought it was a joke.
“Just before 9am the following day(Thursday) when sanitation was supposed to start in all the shops, we came out to see that some plazas had been sealed off.”
Another business owner, who described himself as the vice-chairman of one of the plazas, Okechukwu Ojukwu, said, “We sent a delegation to the Ministry of the Environment, and they claimed not to know about this(closure). We were directed to the Department of Drainage Services and the officials also denied knowledge. They said there must first be a notification before something like that could be carried out. So we are at a loss why KAI was involved.”
Onuora Chinonso, a shop owner, said the reason they gave for locking up the plazas was that there was sand in the gutters.
“The comment they made was that some of the gutters were clean but there was sand inside them,” he said.
Chris Uzor, a seller of computer accessories said, “We just paid tax for three years, and they now collected N200,000 from us. We pay tax, local government levy, lock up shops fee, tenement rate as well as LAWMA , land use, LASAAA and parking charges.”
A developer, Adeola Adeboyejo, who said he had seven complexes in the market, urged the state government to conduct an investigation into the incident.
However, when our correspondent visited KAI office at the Alausa Secretariat, the officials said they had the power to lock up the plazas.
The KAI Public Relations Officer, Tunde Olusesi, said the agency enforces environmental laws.
He said, “It is our duty to handle issues of degradation of the environment and pollution. We had given them enlightenment on how to keep their environment tidy; but they refused to listen to us.”
The officer, who led the team that sealed off the plazas, Ayo Ogungbiye, said, “I went there on Wednesday and took shots of the dirty environment. There was a lot of filth. The following (Thursday) morning, we locked up the shops as the traders failed to comply.
“The payments they made were different because the plazas differ in sizes. And we were not the ones who charged them, the court imposed the fines on them.”
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