For traders who are in the clothing business, this isn’t the appropriate time to experience a decline in sales, as many share their painful tales.
Nkasiobi Igboejesi, a mother of five children who sells at Opoko market, looks unhappy over the temporary shutdown around Yaba environs.
She is a daily income earner whose family depends on her. The middle-aged woman who has been in the clothing business known as ‘Okirika’ for over five years laments the shutdown’s effect on her family and business.
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“On that fateful day, I had to borrow money from a customer to return home because I had no cash. Due to the incident, I was forced to stay home with no sufficient cash and was subjected to eating malnourished food with my children, which was unhealthy for our bodies,” she said.
While expressing her situation, Nkasiobi continues to lament over low customer turnout and poor profit margin due to the incident. She adds that most of her customers had moved to other big markets due to the difficulty of purchasing valuable items from buyers.
“We, the traders, usually pay our LAWMA bills monthly to the market union leaders, but they fail to remit it to the right authority. However, we hope they resolve the issue with the LAWMA to avoid such reoccurrence,” she said.
Having issued several warnings to traders in Yaba environs amidst other victims such as Ladipo, Onyinbo, and Alayabiagba markets on account of negligence with the State’s Environmental Protection laws, the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) begins to enforce disciplinary measures to its offenders. However, their non-compliance with environmental laws includes careless waste disposal, an unhealthy environment, and non-payment of waste bills by respective market leaders, leading to the market shutdown and disrupting their livelihood.
What seems like normalcy in the style of trading known as ‘bend down select’ is what Udoka Ibekwe uses to sustain her family. The nature of her business demands that she spreads some patched nylons on the floor, sits closer to her wares and continuously calls out to customers. All to meet up with her basic needs.
Despite finding a way to attend to a few of her customers during the shutdown, Udoka still complains about low profit. She said, “Presently, we still struggle to get customers because a few of them now approach our stand while others have gone to another major market, Super, situated at Abule-Egba. While some have to change the direction of where they purchase goods. Most need to be made aware that the market has been reopened”.
“It saddens my heart to experience this humiliating situation from our leaders. We have been paying our LAWMA bills, but the assigned individual and his cohort, identified as landowners, still need to remit the money to the proper authorities. As of today, we have contributed a token of N500 for sweeping, but the officers in charge won’t see the maintenance of the market environs. The market is usually dirty and unkept, making the LAWMA to take action against the people.
She points out that despite being permitted to shed their wares, they have yet to understand if the issue has been resolved as they await the market leaders to give them their newly allocated bill.
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Shedding more light on the incident, one of the traders who does not want his name mentioned for fear that the market unions will come after him says the market shutdown was due to debt incurred for about two years and nine months. As a result, the affected plazas received charges of about N2.5 million.
“In our plaza, we have been paying our LAWMA bills, but unknown to us, the money wasn’t getting to their main office. And it affects us deeply because with the situation of Nigeria if you are unable to do business as a daily income earner, it will be difficult to feed your family. As the head of the family, many of us cannot meet up with the family upkeep and other expenses,” he said.
He explains that the clothing business, known as the ‘Okirika market’, usually sells on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The company is the type that has a lot of customers, but due to the incident, many might have gotten another alternative and a more favourable place to buy goods. Besides, it will take a while for customers to rise and businesses to boom.
On the account of the incident, a woman who identifies herself as Aisha Balogun states that she has struggled in life as her business faces little growth. And since we resumed activities in the market, there has been a low turnout of customers, resulting in minimal profit in sales. Only a few customers were aware of the reopening of the market, while others went to other places unaffected to buy goods. As it stands, it will take a while for customers to return to the market again.
“As the home’s breadwinner, my four children and I struggle to eat healthy meals as we try to maintain a three-square meal routine and minimize other expenses. I have been trying to find means of putting food on the table for my household because I can’t tell my children that there isn’t money to cater for their upkeep,” she said.
In describing the odd incident, a trader, who identifies herself as Christy Iregbu, is optimistic that her customers will return as only a few have been moving into the market arena since the incident.
“I hawk my wares on my head around the market to ensure I see my daily meal. My family also needs the money for our daily expenses so that I can meet their expectations. My children were never happy seeing me at home without being involved in any business activity,” she said.
Another trader, who identifies as Nnenna Uchendu, expresses her pain for not selling her clothing materials to customers from the neighbouring towns, leading to poor sales, which affected her budget.
She said: “Most of my customers from Ibadan and Abeokuta who came to buy wares from our stores left for other markets. Up till now, the customers are yet to increase in their numbers. Also, I promised to give money to my daughter, who is studying medicine at Lagos State University, to purchase a laptop but had to postpone it to the detriment of her academic pursuit”.
A Civic Plaza trader, Confidence Ekeoma, complains about incurring debt in the past few weeks to enable her to maintain the family expenses.
And, since the reopening of the markets, he has yet to experience profit in sales and increased customer patronage.
“Upon returning from a burial ceremony in my hometown. I was welcomed with the ugly situation and was forced to buy food items on credit within my neighbourhood and still struggle to pay my debts”.
A Point of Sale (POS) Operator, Ifeoma Ndubuisi, asserts that the market shutdown was due to a lack of maintenance around its environs, which the government did find guilty. At the same time, some victims were unable to pay LAWMA bills. And all these happenings have dragged many businesses back.
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