By Aliyu Abubakar
No one who lives in or has visited Abuja anytime recently will fail to notice it: vehicle sales outlets on nearly every available inch of space!
There is no street in Abuja that doesn’t have one, two, three or even more shades of automobile sales. The entire city center is dotted with vehicle sales shops. Things are even worse if you drive towards the city outskirts, especially the Kubwa, Karu and Gwagwalada highways leading out of Abuja.
Is there no government regulation in Nigeria? How else would you describe the menace in FCT of automobile sales in almost every available space?
The questions that readily come to mind are: Who are the owners of these shops? What is the source of their wealth?
Do they have government’s permission to site these motor shops? Who gave the approval? Is the approval in line with FCT master plan?
Answers to these questions and many more would uncover the real reason(s) for the existence of these menace and why they are not properly regulated by authorities.
You probably have started thinking where I am headed in this write up. Yes, you are right, it is money laundering, ill-gotten funds finding where to hide and clean up. More importantly, the people behind it seem to be ‘untouchable’ and the reason not far-fetched: They are probably the enforcers of the laws, those related to the enforcers of the laws, those connected to the power brokers in and out of government, etc.
Abuja master plan has been thoroughly altered.
Almost every available space has been taken over by the so called automobile merchants and can hardly be said to be authorized by the authorities. Then the question of legality of the source of the funds.
Where is the NDLEA, where is the EFCC/NFIU, where is the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS)? Do we know the legality of the source of funds of these merchants? Had the vehicles been appropriately cleared by NCS and correct duty paid to government?
So many questions begging for answers.
How can a country that has 80% of its people living below poverty line, produce such abundant, expensive automobile sales all over, even as we manufacture not one brand of it? If government agencies with the responsibility of regulation and those responsible for checking money laundering in our country fail or refuse to act as appropriate, we must begin to find other ways to ignite a useful discussion, which would (hopefully) eventually lead to dealing with this menace.
I have a question for the Chairman/CEO of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency,NDLEA . Where is he while this is happening? Does he remember the time of one of his predecessors, Musa Bamaiyi and what he did to such automobile money laundering merchants? Is he seeing these automobile merchants today as above the law, or does it mean that the NDLEA has certified these businesses as legitimate and free of money laundering? We would like to see NDLEA investigate these automobile merchants and clear them (or otherwise) of suspected money laundering activities.
A query for the FCT Minister. Has he ever noticed the preponderance of these automobile dealers all over FCT? Is it with Minister’s permission that these businesses are cited in almost every available space in Abuja causing extreme traffic congestion to road users? Or did he just choose to turn a blind eye, for some hidden reasons?
We see the Minister quite active in demolition of areas considered a menace to FCT. Why is this one left to grow and flourish?
Investigative journalists should take this up as one of their patriotic duty to investigate this matter. Engage the relevant stakeholders and find information. The Merchants, the likely behind-the-scenes owners and the Regulatory Agencies and unravel the reasons behind the preponderance of these businesses which clearly appear to be quite abnormal. You would wonder where these businesses get their customers with the prohibitive cost of these vehicles in the face of crisis in cost of living in our country. While cost of living in Nigeria continues to rise, these businesses continue to grow as if the business thrives on people’s misery. No, something is really fishy.