By Douglas Mayor
Supremacy tussle over the control of government revenue at Imo International Market, Uzoubi Umuna, Orlu LGA, Imo State worries a concerned trader, Douglas Mayor.
This, according to Mayor, is coupled with the arbitrary storage fee increment, sanitation fee collection issues and appointment of interim or caretaker committees to run the affairs of the market.
He said all these have led to a swell of disquiet among traders.
“To forestall the grumbling rage from erupting into an avoidable volcanic upheavals, I, Mazi Douglas Mayor, as a concerned trader of Imo Int’l Market, Orlu, hereby beckon on our performing Governor, Distinguished Senator Hope Uzodimma, Onwa Oyoko, to urgently intervene by reversing the storage fee that was arbitrarily hiked by 400 per cent.
“The hike is from N6,000 per trader yearly to N24,000 which took effect from February 28, 2025. From the inception of the market in 2007, storage fee was N2, 000 till the year 2019. From 2020 it was increased to N3,000 and was doubled in 2022 to N6,000 from where it was outrageously hiked to N24,000 which our traders cannot afford.
“Onwa Oyoko, biko, compassionately reverse this N24, 000 increment to N6, 000; and let a government bank account be made available where traders will lodge the fee. It should be also be clearly stated who collects the storage fee.
“The traders should also know whether it is the Commissioner or Council Chairman that will receive the approved storage fee to be paid by the traders at the end of the year (as we are used to), not at the beginning or middle of the year.
“Secondly, there’s a vital need for our market to have substantive executives elected by traders themselves to run our market affairs. Since the year 2022 when our last elected officers were dissolved, the market has been administered by appointed interim or caretaker committees.
“Worse still, is the appointment of a non-trader from outside our market to head the interim committee. This unwelcome development does not enhance smooth running of the market and its relationship with the publics.
“So, let the traders be encouraged to elect their market leaders which will greatly improve cordial relationship with government and its agents.
“Finally, on sanitation fee collection: each trader in the market pays N2,400 per year for refuse disposal, but the appointment and removal of the interim market officers breeds disruptions.
“For instance, some time last month, the LGA Chairman petitioned for the removal of the heaps of the refuse at the market by the past appointees. Mr Ugochukwu-led interim administration that lasted for only eight months and was unable to fully collect the sanitation fees from traders but contracted for the removal of a large portions of the market’s refuge; whereas Mr Ojo Harmony whose regime lasted for more than two years and were expected to dispose the rest of the refuse heaps failed to do so, should now be made to refund the fees he collected from the traders for it to be used appropriately.
“In submission, therefore, I crave our performing Governor Uzodimma’s indulgence to passionately look into the plight of traders at Imo Int’l Market Orlu and reverse the hiked storage fee to its former amount of N6, 000 which the traders can afford since the market operates at less optimum capacity due to insecurity that made most wealthy traders to relocate to other cities and towns leaving old men, women and others struggling for survival and in need of government support to get over the prevailing harsh economic realities.
There is no need to over tax them.
“Furthermore, encouraging traders to elect their market leaders will greatly enhance the running of the market administratively, engender cordial relationship with government agents and contribute immensely to the growing of our economy, “he concluded.
