Former Deputy National Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Bode George, has called on Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu to address the escalating harassment, extortion and physical abuse of traders by state officials and security agents.

In an open letter to Governor Sanwo-Olu, Bode George expressed grave concern over the plight of traders, highlighting that many face constant harassment and are subjected to heavy levies.

Bode George lamented that traders are harassed and flogged like criminals by government agents, despite their contributions to the state economy.

He said: “Lagos is known as the Centre of Excellence but these traders are not being treated excellently by some security agents and government officials daily.

“Apart from lamenting the multiple levies they pay to councils and at the same time subjected to extortion most horrendously by some thugs and rough-necks, they are also harassed and flogged like criminals.

“I was born in Lagos and I grew up here. I know street trading has been part of our culture and tradition for decades, even before Independence on October 1, 1960.

“Many professionals today like lawyers, doctors, engineers, accountants and others were financed educationally by what their parents made through street trading.

“In London, New York and other advanced cities, there is street trading. What authorities in those climes do is to regulate street trading, not to subject traders to despicable treatment.

“In Lagos, some of these traders and hawkers, due to the harsh and hostile economy in the land, stay on the roadside where they pay government officials daily.

“This is because some shops inside markets go for as high as N1 million and more. Where are they going to get such an amount from in this type of economy?

“In the 21st Century, it is an act of wickedness for government officials to be treating street traders like bandits and terrorists in Lagos State.

“Where is our dignity? Why should officials subject them to harrowing experiences daily?

“They are not armed robbers and they should not be treated as such. It is despicable to treat street traders like terrorists. They are just trying to survive and Lagos is not the only place where we have street traders.

“What your administration needs to do is to regulate their activities. You can also set up skill acquisition programmes for some of them so that they don’t become idle.

“Remember that an idle hand is the devil’s workshop. After daily payment, they will be hounded into vans and trucks, their wares confiscated and they will be locked up. What a triple tragedy.

“Locking them up is not the solution to street trading. Some of these traders have children in tertiary institutions today and it is what they make they use to take care of the educational needs of those who depend on them.

“Mr. Governor, we all know what led to the Arab Spring in North Africa years ago. That should not be allowed to happen here at all.

“We should not deceive ourselves that the Nigerian Spring cannot happen here because people are hungry and angry.”

Bode George appealed to the governor to revisit the issue of street traders before it got out of hand. He said the essence of governance is to alleviate the suffering of the masses.

“Imagine the government announcing that its Environmental Sanitation Corps arrested no fewer than 63 people for allegedly crossing the highway and engaging in illegal street trading.

“Offenders of highway rule can be reprimanded to discourage others from committing the same offence.

“But, street traders are respectable members of the society who strive every day for their living, irrespective of the difficult times they face.

“It is wrong for them to be treated with unimaginable disdain while loafers and urchins are left roaming the streets and our neighbourhoods.

“In England and Wales, you may need to get a licence for street trading. Restrictions, fines, and penalties are imposed in dignified ways for breaches of the laws and regulations.

“But in the case of our country, particularly in Lagos, officials of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps (LAGESC) and the Central Business District (CBD) throw caution to the wind to abuse their privileges, taking presumed street traders hostage, physically forcing them into their blackmaria vehicles to the bewilderment of members of the public.

“Imagine putting a human being, whose sin is trading on the street inside a truck in this 21st century, a vehicle reserved for hardened criminals. I have been inundated with the abuses by state officials against their fellow citizens, who are harmless traders on Lagos streets, like Broad Street, Nnamdi Azikiwe Street, Martins Street, Marina, Oyingbo, Yaba, Ketu, Ojota, Oshodi, Ikeja, Mike 2, Mile 12, Ajegunle, among others.

“I’m saddened that these vulnerable Nigerians, who the government claimed gave their mandate for the office they are occupying, can be treated like slaves.

“This inhuman attitude must be halted forthwith and a more civil approach to treating fellow human beings be embraced for posterity,” he said.