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The Management Committee Chairman of Swali Market, AKPOWEI FESTUS KEMELAYEFA, in this interview with our Bayelsa State correspondent AMOS ODEH bares his mind on achievements and challenges. He also spoke on other issues.
Excerpts:
What has been your achievement since your inauguration as the chairman of the Swali Market Management Committee?
It is indeed a privilege to be appointed by Governor Seriake Dickson and I remain eternally grateful for his magnanimity. So far, since my appointment, the Management Committee which l head swing into action to perform our statutory duties and we met a lot of problems. The initial challenge being the absence of electricity and the traders cried to me to give them respite. In fact, the entire market was in total darkness and the traders were agitated and their grouse were considered as genuine, because they pay revenue to the state. For them to do their businesses effectively their plights were looked into and as l speak to you now through private partnerships a 350 KVA sound – proof generator has been installed , distinct from the National grid which now supplies light to the entire market daily without interruption. The traders have since heaved a big sigh of relief in that direction. They are all deeply expressed their appreciation to His Excellency, Seriake Dickson, the governor of Bayelsa State.
Another achievement is on abattoir. Before we came on board, the condition of the abattoir was in comatose. Cows were slaughtered and meat sold in unhygienic environment and without medical doctors certifying animals fit for consumption. And coupled with that since there were not proper regulations and enforcement of laws, some unscrupulous traders were engaged in smuggling all kinds of animals from neighboring states and these meats were freely sold in all parts of the state. The Ijaw man does not eat any and any meat. And l felt this was not right. Hence we approached government for the reconstruction of a modern abattoir and today when you go there cows are slaughtered in a hygienic and neat environment with water from a bore hole. Today there is good sanitation and bore hole in the abattoir .We provided slabs and sand filled the marshy land. Still on abattoir we met it shrouded in controversy. Where it’s control and management was in contention between state ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources which wanted it to be located to the Bayelsa Palm and the State ministry of Trade and Commerce. Both ministries angled for the collection of revenue. Amidst this crisis, the Bayelsa state House of Assembly invited us and it was there and then it was resolved that the abattoir be domiciled in the ministry of Trade and Commerce. That gave us the power to extend our functions to protecting the entering of illegal meat from Mbiama and other neighboring states. And today there are other abattoirs where cows are slaughtered because only one abattoir cannot serve the entire state. All of them are under our supervision. We also put a stop to the outright contracting of the abattoirs to private contractors who were defrauding the government.
During your inauguration you were given a charge to vacate all illegal traders at the entrance of the market, but today traders still display their wares and cause free movement of goods and services. What have you done in this direction?
There has been a market extension and some reconstructed burnt stores by the present government which l also believed that government is continuum. 600 market stores were constructed by previous government. And before they can be vacated the market extension has to be properly put in place to make the environment conducive for trading and traders as well. Traders do come to markets with their children and we don’t want any child to drown here. The committee is in torch with state government and modalities for that will soon commence and my advice is that those doing business by the market entrance has to be patience as government understands what they are facing. Even the owners of trucks who bring goods from outside the state should bear with government. Whenever government finished the work at the market extension they will be vacated and allocated stores to do their legitimate businesses.
Can you be specific on what needs to be put in place before the market extension can be put to use.
Thank you for that question. As you can see government is losing huge revenue from the non-utilization of the market extension and government is desirous of ensuring that traders move in to occupy these stores, and before that, certain things are needed. Principally among that is the sand-filling of the areas where this extension market is situated. There is a very deep swamp that needed to be sand filled and stabilized for any meaningful work on it. The market is grappling with security challenges. The original perimeter fence was not high enough. Even with collaboration between the police and local security, thieves still climbed the fence and steal traders goods. We are inundated daily with cases of stealing and theft. And management has also suggested to government the need to raise the height of the fence to deter miscreants from jumping in and out of it freely. Also before the market extension there was an existing wall which separates it from the main market, and before traders will move in the wall demarcating it will have to be pull down so that one can access the entire market from both sides. Also the existing markets stores were wrongly allocated and that resulted in haphazard display of goods within the market unlike what obtains in modern markets where a particular line deals on a particular items, but what we have in this market is anomaly. So to answer your question rightly, the entire market is going to be restructured to meet international standards where if you want to purchase for example plastic wares you don’t have to stress yourself, but move directly to that designated line for that particular item. The concept of the market by the first government was to make the market comparable to Onitsha, Aba and Port Harcourt where trucks can move in and off-load their goods freely and leave freely too. But successive governments hadn’t the political will to correct these imbalances and am optimistic our talk-na-do governor will do this before he leaves office.
A visitor to the market extension cannot pass without seeing some trips of sand dumped in the surrounding of the swampy section. Is it work in progress or an abandoned project by the state government? From grapevine we learnt the sum of #20m was released but what we saw there is fourteen trips of sand.
That l cannot tell you. But the only answer l can give is that before l assumed office that work or contract was awarded when the present SSG to the state government, Bar. Kemela Okara was the Honorable Commissioner of Trade, Investment and Commerce. It is only himself and my predecessor that can throw light on that. I cannot comment on what transpired before my appointment .My preoccupation now is how to ensure that the area is sand filled, the perimeter fence elevated to prevent entry by thieves and put structure to use for government to realize the purpose for which it was constructed in the first place.
What is the relationship between you and the Swali Ultra-Modern Market Union and the state government?
What else do you expect from a government that appointed me than loyalty, dedication and commitment?
Of course, the market management committee met with the commissioner of Trade, Industry and Investment regularly where we always discuss how the market can be administered for optimal benefits. And for the market Union, my committee is their father. In fact our relationship is candidly cordial, even though the constitution of Nigeria guarantees freedom of association which always allows anybody to form any group for the purpose of social interaction and assistance to its members when the needs arise. All the sectional associations of indigenes and non – indigenes operate under the Swali Ultra-Modern Market Union. There is no rift among all of them, they operate peacefully without molestation and intimidation from any quarter.
