Remodelling of Abia Markets: Otti allays shop owners fears of losing remodeled shops
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
Abia State Governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has assured that no shop owner in the A-line section of the Ariaria International Market and Ekeoha Market currently being remodeled would lose his or her shop when the shops would be reallocated upon completion.
The Governor gave the assurance when he received, in audience, a delegation of National Association of Nigeria Traders (NANTs) in his office.
According to Governor Otti, every shop owner should be given right of first refusal before reallocating their shops to other people, warning that whoever was not entitled to a shop but goes ahead to buy the remodeled shops would lose their money. He said that he has given the contractor clear instruction that the original owners of the remodeled shops must be considered first.
“On the issue of shops, we have taken note of the revelation you gave us and we are going to look into them. We inherited that reconstruction of A-line. But I have given clear instructions that those who own shops must have first right of refusal.
“If you own a shop, if you don’t get it, it is because you don’t want it. So, those fears are no longer tenable. I heard that that’s what happened before we came but we have since changed it. We have communicated the traders to say, if you have evidence that you owned a shop, every allocation they have done, we will cancelled them.”
“We say allocation will happen only after the owners of the shops originally have been given shops. That is the instruction,” the Governor insisted.
He directed his Technical Assistant to work with the Commissioner for Trade and Special Adviser on Trade to ensure that his instructions were fully carried out.
Governor Otti further said that although it was not the responsibility of the Government to determine the price of those shops but that he has designed means for the original owners who may not afford the price of the remodeled shops to get loans from banks to augment the amount they have to get their shops back. He added that the banks will keep the title documents and the owners would get them back once they liquidate their loans from the bank.
“And, I even did one more thing, I said in the unlikely event there are people who don’t have money to pay for the shop, that we will arrange a bank loan for them. I have already spoken to two banks. It’s not for me to determine how much the shop would be but I heard it’s about N10 million. Assuming it is 10 million and you have only 5 million, the bank will provide N5 million and hold on to the title document until you pay back to the bank and collect your title document. In so far as am here, that’s what will happen,” the Governor assured.
He said the same thing would be applicable to Ekeoha Shopping Center (currently undergoing remodeling in phases) and any other market to be remodeled, stating that everybody should be treated fairly and equally.
On the issue of payments of N18,000 yearly levy in the market, Governor Otti said that what the Government did was to change the system so that all payments would go straight to the bank account of Abia State Government.
He explained that anyone who did not get alert after payment, the fault may be from the bank. The Governor however assured that steps would be taken to ensure that there would be no system failure anywhere.
On their request to honour him with a Civic Reception and an award, the Governor declined, maintaining his decision not to accept any awarded while in office as he clearly stated in his inaugural speech.
