Smallholder traders transacting under stalls and kiosks at the Bauchi Central Market have protested the 48 hours quit notice issued to them by the state government.
The traders on Thursday staged a peaceful protest match to the Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Bauchi saying that the period given to them to vacate their current location is too short.
Alhaji Mu’azu Ciroma who led the procession lamented that most of the affected traders are too poor to raise a structure at the new site calling on Governor Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed to give them a loan to enable them to build stalls and to comply with the directive.
He said, “We were given three months to build the shops at the new location but the notice is too short. We cannot build them by the deadline because we are small-scale traders.”
He said called the government to build the shops for them to pay in installment. “We appealed for loans to build the new shops or the government on the compassionate ground should build for us.”
However, the Bauchi State Government procured land at Muda Lawal Market for the concerned traders to relocate to.
Retired Air Commodore Tijjani Baba Gamawa, Chairman of the Bauchi State Road Traffic Agency, BAROTA, had issued the traders a 48hrs ultimatum to comply with the quit notice served on them three months ago.
Gamawa insisted that the government would not extend the deadline urging the affected traders to vacate the area in the next 48 hours.
