WITH JOKE ADENIYI-JACKSON
As dusk draws nigh, hordes of petty traders berth at the frontage of National Pilot Newspaper along Asa Dam road, Ilorin, Kwara State, for the day’s business.
The corporate ambience the environment assume during daytime, becomes rambunctious. The area wears a new look; semblance of a marketplace.
The unwanted visitors constitute nuisance in all sense of it. People haggling in loud voices, the chiming of bells and other noisy advertisements to attract customers are common feature of the nighttime street trading. The traders display their wares on the road carrying out their trading with impunity, thus making the area almost impassable for vehicles and pedestrians; obstructing free flow of vehicular and human traffic.
This ugly development is not peculiar to the affected area as traders have taken over the major roads and streets within Ilorin metropolis. The situation is same at the Post Office area where traders have turned the walkway and under the fly over their marketplace, making it difficult for pedestrians to pass through the area.
Sadly, despite efforts by the state government to nip this environmental problem in the bud, road side merchandise has continued unabated. Perhaps oblivious of the risks associated with street trading and its menace to the environment, many people are increasingly participating in roadside trading. There is the grave risk of car ramming into the traders while the inappropriate dumping of refuse constitute environmental vis-à-vis health challenge.
In addition, the master plan of the state capital is distorted by illegal and temporary structures like sheds and kiosks and frustrating government efforts at beautifying the state capital. A greater percentage of operatives in the informal economic sector especially artisans, prefer to operate in the open spaces, apparently because of the unaffordable rent for decent shops. But, they occupy these public spaces in defiance to existing town planning laws.
While empty stalls abound in markets within the metropolis like the Mandate and the new Kulende markets, traders would rather engage in road side trading.
However, since there are existing laws against street trading in the state, government must show the political will to enforce it. Enforcing laws has been a problem in this side of the clime. Laws are churned out without enforcing them. Undoubtedly, the problem of street/roadside trading has continued to persist in the state because of the non-enforcement of the law to the letter.
Government must be firm and strict in enforcing the law if the menace of street trading must be stamped out. Several times the state government had dislodged traders particularly in Post Office area but in no time they are back there again. The state ministry of Environment and Forestry as well as relevant authorities have a huge role to play in arresting the situation. Towards achieving this end, government must make provision for affordable shops as most of the traders complain that the shops have been priced out of the reach, hence reason for their road side merchandising. The rent for market stalls must be affordable for small scale traders that form bulk of street traders, if government must tackle effectively this social anomie. Alternative places could be provided for the street traders like it was done by the Lagos State government in collaboration with private firms with the construction of corner shops
To give Ilorin befitting look, the state government must come up with policies that conform to best practice, that can prevent environmental nuisance and the security threat which street/roadside trading poses to citizens.
