Street traders risk two-week jail term in Auchi

Street traders in Auchi and its environs will henceforth be arrested, prosecuted and jailed for two weeks according to the Chairman, Etsako West Local Government Area of Edo, Mr Yakubu Musa.

The council chairman, who gave the warning on Tuesday at an interactive session with some journalists in Auchi, vowed to enforce the extant regulations outlawing street trading in Auchi and its surroundings.

He said that the council would step up the enforcement of anti-street trading laws, adding that anyone who flouted the regulations would be imprisoned for two weeks or made to pay N5,000 fine.

Musa said that a joint task force, which comprised personnel of the army, the police and other security agencies, had been set up to enforce the laws banning street trading.

He also said that a mobile court would be in place to try offenders.

“We have set up a task force charged with the duty of preventing the circumvention of the law which prohibits display of goods for sale, or trading by the roadside with unauthorised structures, except in markets and designated places.

“We shall apprehend defaulters and they shall be subjected to two weeks imprisonment or a fine of N5,000,” he said.

Musa called on roadside traders to take their wares to places designated for buying and selling such as markets and shopping malls because trading in unauthorised places would attract serious sanctions.

“Activities of street traders have resulted in indiscriminate occupation of public space, which serves as impediment to free flow of vehicular and human movement.

“There is need for members of the public to comply with the extant laws on street trading. When citizens comply with the laws, it will be easier for security agencies to enforce the regulations.

“Where the law says there should not be street trading, people should refrain from selling in such unauthorised areas,’’ he added

Street traders, beware!