Shop owners in one of Abuja’s plazas, Banex shopping complex have claimed that they recorded huge losses since the Nigerian military shut down their place of business.
Naija News earlier reported that some traders at the Plaza had brutalised military personnel over a faulty phone, which snowballed into a free-for-all fight on Saturday.
This led to the army temporarily closing down the plaza.
Speaking to The Whistler, Rita, a sales representative of a phone dealer company in Banex who refused to identify the company, said her company is into both retail and wholesale outlets across the New and Old Banex complexes.
“In Banex, what we sell in a day is nothing less than N5m from retail shops while for the wholesale shops, we make at least N15m because people come to buy to resell.
“But since yesterday, we have yet to make up to N1m per day. Even now, those dealers who are lucky to have shops in other plazas are now selling at a high cost.”
The sales representative noted that although the company has one more shop outside of Banex Plaza where they now only operate, sales have drastically declined.
Also, a phone repairer, simply identified as Stanley said, he has now moved his business to the nearest plaza just to make sales, pending the reopening of the complex.
The plaza located close to the Banex Complex was not affected, and trading activities are ongoing.
Stanley said, “I am currently at the nearest plaza close to Banex but I am still stranded. Some of my clients’ phones and computers are locked in the shop. You know this was sudden, else I would have taken relevant items.”
While the attack on the military personnel has been largely condemned by Nigerians, many have also berated the action of the military to clamp down on the livelihood of traders while executing the function of the police as the lead agency for internal security.
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