Abia State Governor Dr. Alex Otti, has assured that no shop owner in the A-line section of the Ariaria International Market and Ekeoha Market undergoing remodelling will lose his shop when the shops will be reallocated on completion.
The Governor in a statement signed by his Chief press secretary Mr Ukoha Njuko Ukoha on Thursday gave the assurance when he received in audience a delegation of the National Association of Nigeria Traders (NANs) in his office.
According to Governor Otti, every shop owner should be given the right of first refusal before reallocating their shops to other people.
He warned that whoever is not entitled to a shop that goes ahead to buy the remodelled shops would lose their money, saying that he has given the contractor clear instructions that the original owners of the remodelled shops must be considered first.
“On the issue of shops, we have taken note of the revelation you gave us and we are going to look into them. We inherited that reconstruction of the A-line. But I have given clear instructions that those who own shops must have first right of refusal.
“If you own a shop, if you don’t get it, it is because you don’t want it. So, those fears are no longer tenable. I heard that that’s what happened before we came but we have since changed it.
“We have communicated to the traders to say, if you have evidence that you owned a shop, every allocation they have done, we will cancel them”.
“We say allocation will happen only after the owners of the shops originally have been given shops. That is the instruction,” the Governor stated.
The Governor directed his Technical Assistant to work with the Commissioner for Trade and Special Adviser on Trade to ensure that his instructions are fully carried out.
Speaking further, Governor Otti said that although it is not the responsibility of the Government to determine the price of those shops, he has designed means for the original owners who may not afford the price of the remodelled shops to get loans from banks to augment the amount they have to get their shops back.
“He stated that the banks will keep the title documents and the owners will get them back once they liquidate their loans from the bank.
“And, I even did one more thing, I said in the unlikely event there are people who don’t have money to pay for the shop, that we will arrange a bank loan for them.
“I have already spoken to 2 banks. It’s not for me to determine how much the shop would be but I heard it’s about 10 million.
“Assuming it is 10 million and you have only 5 million, the bank will provide 5 million and hold on to the title document until you pay back the bank and collect your title document. So far as I am here, that’s what will happen”, Governor Otti assured.
He said the same thing is applicable to Ekeoha Shopping Center currently undergoing remodelling being done in phases and any other market to be remodelled, stating that everybody should be treated fairly and equally.
On the issue of payments of 18,000 yearly levy in the market, Governor Otti said that what the Government did was to change the system so that all payments would go straight to the bank account of Abia State Government. He explained that anyone not getting alert after payment, the fault may be from the Bank.
The Governor however assured that something will be done to ensure that there is no system failure anywhere.
On their request to honour him with a civic reception and an award, the Governor declined, maintaining his decision not to accept any award while in office as he clearly stated in his inaugural speech.
The delegation from the National Association of Nigerian Traders left happily as their fears and concerns were adequately allayed by the Governor.