THE NOTORIOUS TOUTS CITY CALLED
ONITSHA
Onitsha is
the headquarters of Onitsha North Local Government Areas of Anambra State, South-East
Nigeria. It is a bubbling city with high rate of commercial activities. It is a
center to various big and small businesses scattered across the place.
For a first
time visitor to Onitsha, he/she will mistake the place for a well organized
society but, it is far from it. This is as a result of the many ills that go up
here, even in the day light. The cases of robbery, pickpockets, dubious and
vexatious taxing, deadly looking touts and so much notorious activities happen
here unabated.
The essence
of this right up is a result of the bitter experience I faced in the hands of
touts, in the name of collecting revenue for the State government. Or, is it
Local government now? I don’t know.
The date was
Tuesday, 4 September, 2012. I was returning to the Northern states, from Benin
City, the Edo State Capital, and my home state, where I went to spend some days
while on my annual leave. Although this was not my first time of visiting or
passing through Onitsha to my destinations, but, my experiences of that day angered me
to my bone marrow.
Starting my
journey from Benin City, I boarded the buses of Faith Motors, a private
transport company, located along Akpakpava Street, by 2nd East
Circular Road Junction, Benin City. All through our journey until the first
passenger dropped at Asaba, the Delta State Capital, it was all very peaceful
and smooth, though it was raining. After leaving Asaba and heading straight
through the River Niger Bridge, we arrived Onitsha, the city known for its
notorious tout activities.
The
termination of our journey is the general motor park, which is very close to
the Onitsha - Port Harcourt road overhead bridge, by the right as you face Asaba.
This park is where all passengers vehicles from Benin City stop after revising
through the overhead bridge. This park is also the place to carry passengers en route
Lagos, Benin City, Uyo etc. It is very close to Ifeanyi Chukwu Luxurious Park,
Onitsha.
Therefore,
after alighting from the bus that took me from Benin City to Onitsha with the
loads I carried in bags, a tout showed up while bargaining with a wheelbarrow
pusher, to take my loads to G.U.O Okereke Motors, a luxurious park that
services some selected Northern cities, like Yola, Jalingo, Sokoto, Kano etc.
Meanwhile, the distance between this park and G.U.O is about a minute walk. So,
he came with a receipt asking me to pay for dropping my load there. I asked him,
is it me paying for my load, or the wheelbarrow pusher for his daily tax? It fell on
deaf ears. So I ended up parting with N50.
As soon as
we left this park and turning to the small road from the overhead bridge,
another tout accosted us. He brought another receipt asking me to pay as well.
Remember, we are on our way to G.U.O, not that we stop there for anything. I was
wondering: When did Onitsha becomes this notorious for ticketing? Who am I
complaining to? Nobody of course. Then and again, I parted with N20.
We therefore
take the short road that passes through one market to burst out directly
opposite G.U.O Park, lo and behold, a 3rd tout with another ticket.
This time, I became furious and challenged their extorting menace. Again, who
am I complaining to? This is because the average touts in Onitsha sees it as
normal, when they are extorting money from passersby in the name of collecting
revenue for the government. I am very sure that, this continuous daylight
robbery by these touts is being monitored by their Ogas, who are nothing but
touts as well waiting for the bounty their boys will bring on a daily basis.
I told them
that in Benin City, where I came from, we don’t maltreat visitors and
passersby in this way. It is on record that, the local governments that
collects revenue for the various local councils in Edo State, do so with high
sense of responsibility. A wheelbarrow pusher is billed once in a day and after
paying and collecting his ticket, his customers, no matter the amount of load
they may be carrying is never charge extra dine. It therefore became a surprised to
me that Onitsha, which I passed before with similar loads and even more without paying any form of ticket, have become so notorious in ticketing.
Therefore,
after shouting at them, I paid the money they were asking which was N20. Note
that these short roads where these hooligans are daily robbing people in the
name of collecting revenue for the government are in deep mess. No form of sign
of the presence of government, let alone maintaining it for easy passage for commuters. You
have to fold your trousers up when it rains otherwise, mud will become your
neighbour as you walk along those short roads. It is very annoying I must
confess. This is the height of irresponsible government administration that
prides itself in the suffering of the public that passes their domain.
Now,
considering how much money will be collected (exploited) from the public, who
are passersby or petty trade vendors by these touts on a daily basis, it will
leave one to wonder, whose interest is the government of the day serving in Anambra?
Moreover,
when I finally got to G.U.O Motor Park, I was unlucky as the bus loading for
Yola, the Adamawa State Capital have been fully booked when I arrived. Having
missed G.U.O, I then settled for Eze Nwanta transport, which is just a stone
thrown from G.U.O.
For the entire time I spent while waiting for our onward
departure to Yola, I saw a repeat of the operations of these touts abusing and intimidating
petty vendors with different types of receipts, threatening to seize their wares
should they refuse to pay, not minding that the gains these people are getting
from their sales are nothing to write home about. My God! What sort of robbery is
this in the name of revenue collection? Mark you, these petty hawkers of
Chinchin, Oha leave, groundnut, biscuits and sweets and other petty stuff, are
also made to pay at every single motor park they will visit each day.
However, one
may argue that these revenue that is been collected are minimal. Yes, they are
minimal but, considering the number of victims that will fall to their trap
each day, it brings this minimal amount of money in huge income in the hands of
these government touts.
I therefore
call on Mr. Peter Obi, the Anambra State governor, to investigate my claims. I
know that if the state government is not behind this daylight robbery by these
touts, they will impress it on whosoever is responsible, to stop this public
menace in the name of collecting revenue for government. Should the state
government take decisive action(s) to ending this touting operations in the
state, Anambra will be better for it.
May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
