Traders in Lagos markets have cried out over “unbearable multiple levies” imposed on traders at various markets, calling on the Lagos State Government to take urgent measures to address the situation.

In an interview with our correspondent in Lagos, the traders said that a regime of levies imposed on traders was affecting them adversely and worsening hardships among the populace.

Lagos, Nigeria’s economic hub, is dotted by many markets, dominated mainly by petty traders who are often subjected to pay various charges, official and unofficial.

Analysts have often complained that multiple taxation imposed on residents by the Lagos State Government is hampering development of the informal sector and making life unbearable for most residents of Nigeria’s most populous city.

The Chairman of the Yaba Central Market Traders Association, Mr Ugochukwu Ekeleme, said that traders in the market could no longer cope with the multiple levies imposed on them.

“We are forced to pay too many levies. We just cannot cope any more. We cannot understand why traders are subjected to the pain we are going through in markets in Lagos.”

Ekeleme argued that multiple taxation was a wrong policy in a nation characterised by unemployment and mass poverty, saying that traders hardly made profits after paying various levies to government and some illegal groups.

A trader at the popular Oyingbo Market on the Lagos Mainland, Mrs Mopelola Adeoye, said that some of the levies were paid to people who “merely constituted themselves into law and extorted money from traders.

“In this market anyone can become law unto himself just to extort money from petty traders yet we are supposed to be protected by government.

“Let the government find a way of getting jobs for the street urchins, popularly called ‘area-boys’ because they are indiscriminately feasting on traders.

“The governor should find something else for these boys to do, some of the levies they collect from traders are unwarranted.

“They don’t use the money to repair anything in the market, which they claim the levies are meant for,” Adeoye stated.

Another trader, Mr Lucky Ogbonna, who deals in curtain materials at Mushin, said the outrageous rent paid for shops and the countless taxes had made business unprofitable for traders.

“We have given up. Government is collecting levies, touts are also collecting, where do we run to?,” he asked.

A vegetable seller, Mrs Wuraola Anibilowo, complained that some of the officials collecting the dues were not registered by the state or local governments.

“Most of them are just in the market to intimidate traders and extort money from traders,” she said, pleading with the Lagos Government to dislodge touts from markets in Lagos.