By Amos Aar
THE ZAKI-BIAM International Yam Market in Ukum LGA of Benue State has called on the federal government to increase the limit of cash withdrawal from banks to stop exposing traders to the risk of carrying huge sums of money to the market to be robbed by bandits.
Secretary of the market who also doubled as acting secretary, Association of Yam Sellers and Yam Marketers, Sankera, Mr Japhet Ishenge, who made the appeal Wednesday in an interview with National Record in Zaki-Biam also called on the Benue State Government to establish a commercial bank in the market where traders will be depositing and withdrawing their monies after business transactions.
According to Shenge, the withdrawal limit introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been causing serious harm to the market because people can no longer withdraw cash up to the amount they need and when they carry huge sums of money along to the market, bandits either kidnap or rob them.
He lamented that insecurity has affected the market adversely as some people who used to buy in complete lorries have stopped coming to the market owing to insecurity.
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“They have stopped coming though they send a little. For instance, one person used to buy a whole truck before but they no longer buy like that. They buy in porches, they send like two porches or even one to sustain their lives”, he said.
Mr Shenge also called on the state government to check multiple taxations even as he said the taxes were not illegal.
“There are some taxes in the market that are not specific because government has its taxes from the local government, state and federal, and there are some small associations that involve their little share inside but the taxes are known to federal government. So, they are not illegal because government has a director of operations in the market who is directing the activities of all the papers or whatever inside this market and outside.
Asked whether the market leadership has been conveying traders’ complaints about the multiple taxations to the government, the secretary said they have done that severally to no avail.
“On several occasions, we, association of the market, we are the helpers of these buyers and sellers. When they cry of this, we convey their cries to the government. We complained to the other past chairmen about this issue of multiple taxations and they promised to send people to come and investigate to know the papers which are not government’s own. During this Alia’s administration, the traders cried again and we called them and they send people again to come and investigate to know the normal papers. The government said only government papers will be collected in the market and for me, I believe that’s what is going on now because for long, I have not checked their papers”, he explained.
Ishenge expressed worry that although government was collecting huge revenue from their market which opens from Mondays to Saturdays with at least 100 or 50 trucks of yams loaded out of the market on daily, the government was not helping them in return.
“Our market starts from Monday to Saturday except for Monday which is the day when goods are brought to the market and people troop in to buy, at least 100 or 50 but not less than 10 trucks of yams are loaded out of our market every day.
“Government is collecting huge revenue from us on daily basis but we don’t know what government is doing for us.
“We need access roads in this market because some lorries fall inside the market and destroy shops”, he stated.
In addition to electricity, toilets and good water, the secretary also requested the construction of access roads within and outside the market to forestall accidents that usually occur in the market.
“Last season, some lorries fell and destroyed shops inside the market. Even outside this market, there is no way lorries can move out to the tarred road.
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Ishenge who thanked the immediate past administration of president Muhammadu Buhari for building structures in the market including warehouses for them scored the performance of the Benue State governor, Rev. Fr Hyacinth Alia high within 11 months in office but appealed to the governor to improve in the area of security
“Alia’s government has been doing excellently. We heard salaries are being paid promptly and everything is going on smoothly. He has even constructed some roads across the local governments.
“The only thing is insecurity. The insecurity, in fact, I don’t see too much impact on it because our people are killed and properties destroyed anyhow”, he cried out”.
Although Shenge said some soldiers have been deployed to the area lately, he described the effort as medicine after death.
“Within these two weeks, I see military working seriously and I believe it’s chief security of the state that has given the directives. But we had been waiting for these directives since.
“If these directives started before time, many of our people would have been alive and many of our properties would have been saved but he left everything dormant.
“If you count the number of souls that have been lost in Sankera within this period, you will not believe,” Ishenge lamented.
