By Ikemefuna Asika
Chief Humphrey Anuna, President General of Anambra State Market Traders Association (ASMATA) has said that the traders’ community is fully in support of the second term bid of Prof. Chukwuma Soludo.
Anuna who spoke to journalists at the weekend dismissed the campaign against him as handiwork of detractors who had been sacked from living off illegal revenue from traders.
He said his leadership had been able to stop all channels of revenue leakages through which the so-called ‘concerned citizens’ shortchanged the government and ensured that every money accruable to the Anambra government got to it.
He disclosed that he had been able to raise revenue from the market from paltry N400 million to a whopping N4.2 billion per annum assuring that his target was to take it to N10 billion in a near future.
“There has been a coordinated attack by a a group of persons within the markets who call themselves’ ‘concerned citizens’’, these are people who earn their living by collecting revenues and diverting it to their pocket, they have presence in all the market zones.
“But my Administration has been able to check their nefarious activities, they are also in the habit of not implementing government policies but we are making sure that traders become part of the civil society.
“The allegations of increase in levies is a hoax, it is just a reaction to the way we ensured that every money collected in the name of government goes to the government, that is why we have been able to increase remittance to government from N400 million to N4.2 billion per annum,” he said.
Anuna stated that traders would support Soludo to enable him execute his policies and programme successfully, stressing ‘he needs money to work and we are targeting N10 billion.”
He said Soludo’s second term was nonnegotiable as he (Soludo) had campaigned sufficiently for himself through his good works and that traders were major beneficiaries of this administration.
According to him, it is an insult for anybody to say that it is Chief Humphrey Anuna that will stall the reelection bid of Mr Governor, that is a lame threat by people who have nothing to say.
On his leadership impacts, Anuna said he was able to attract business funding of N500,000 to no fewer than 300 traders under the one youth two skills programme of the government.
He also pointed out that he had set up an alternative dispute resolution mechanism which had reduced litigation involving traders as well put in place measures to check incessant fire outbreak in the markets.
The President General, who described himself as very popular among traders, said enumeration and identification of members of the market community had commenced to check infiltration.
“I have also directed that any market leader, security leaders under whom fire burns more than six shops must report himself to the security agencies, we say no more to such sabotage.
“I do not have to sing my own praise, I am very popular among traders, there is peace in the markets now, our members are now making use of the alternative dispute resolution mechanism we put in place,” he said.
