By Anya C. Anya
The chairman Ekeoha Shopping Centre Traders Association Mr Friday Dimiri yesterday made attempt to defend the allegations of abuse of office written against him and the commissioner for Trade and Commerce Dr Cosmos Ndukwe.
The Concerned Traders Of Ekeoha Shopping Centre Aba, an association of traders and shop owners at the Ekeoha Shopping Centre had few days ago wrote a petition to the Abia State House of Assembly against the Abia State Commissioner For Trade and Commerce Dr. Cosmos Ndukwe and the chairman Ekeoha Shopping Centre Traders Association Mr Friday Dimiri over allege abuse of office and other irregularities.
This include unauthorized conversion of facilities like car park, fire station, driveway, emergency exit ways, and some walkways within the market to shops , the construction of two floors of Lock Up Stalls on top of the originally designed and built bungalow blocks of stalls in the said market without the matching beams, pillars, rods and decks, thereby creating three levels of stalls in the said market which was originally designed and constructed as one level block of stalls.
Further allegation include That Hon Cosmos Ndukwe and Mr Friday Dimiri negotiated with the Independent Power Plant Station (Called Ekeoha Power Station), disconnected all stalls in the said market from linkage to EEDC .they also allegedly unilaterally imposed a high rate and other fees per stall, by making an increase from Five Thousand Naira to Eight Thousand Naira.
The speaker who received the petition had set up an Adhoc committee headed by Hon. Munachim Alozie to investigate the matter.Though the committee is yet to submit their reports, but Mr. Friday Dimiri decided to use the avenue of quick response to defend himself. This is through a publication by quick reporters where Mr Friday Dimiri said the petition against him was politically motivated.
According to Mr Friday Dimiri while reacting to the issues raised in the petition, “it is not true that car park, entrance to the the market to offload goods as well as exit root in case of any emergency in the market do not exist, On the issue of non-existence of Bank for traders, Dimiri said to put records straight, bank exists in the market, adding that all traders make use of the bank situated in one of the upstairs. As for lack of fire control mechanism in the market in event of fire outbreak he said firefighters can easily access the entrance of the market as well as its exit. stressing that the allegations are false and a ploy to drag his name in the mud.”
On the issue of additional structures as raised in the petition, Dimiri acknowledge that they are new structures raised as against approved standard but argued that the structures added on top were duly supported with strong pillars as the engineer who handled the project took time to deliver quality job that will stand the test of time. Concerning the power plant, the Chairman” stated that due to activities of traders that leave their appliances on when leaving the market and regular fire outbreaks, the management of the market disconnected power from EEDC and came up with the idea of independent power plant which is now imposed levies on the traders who pay N200 daily while those who are not interested make use of generators. ”
Dimiri, revealed to Quick Reporters that “there are only two major levies paid annually in the market which include: installation of power plant levy which goes for N18,000 and N2,500 for security, revealing that since the management of the market disconnected from EEDC, there has been steady light from the power plant which fosters transparency in the market as customers now see at a glance what they want to buy from shops “.
Furthermore, Dimiri” alluded to the fact that there are access roads both for entrance and exit. He said there are old structures that can no longer carry buildings on top, submitting that massive construction is going on aimed at reviving old structures and replacing them with new ones.” This response still left many questions unanswered and AFNEWS would continue to bring you new development on the matter as more fact would emerge.
