The acute hardship trending in Bonny Local Government Area may now be traced to the reported loss of goods especially, perishable commodities belonging to traders in the area which have been under lock and key at the warehouse at the Coal Beach, Bonny.
The said goods were reported to have arrived Bonny Island since Sunday, June 21, 2020 hours after the State Governor, Nyesom Wike imposed an impromptu lockdown on the area the previous night.
This development has heightened the food crisis in the area as traders who could have been able to clandestinely sell foodstuffs to their neighbours say their goods are held up at the warehouse where all incoming goods were stockpiled.
Security operatives securing the area were said not to have the clearance from their superior officers to release the said goods in the wake of the lockdown, allegedly regretting their inability to allow the evacuation outside the approval of their superiors or the LG Chairman.
One of our sources, who preferred anonymity, said an official of the COVID-19 Taskforce in Bonny reportedly approached the security operatives to allow for its evacuation but was allegedly told that they don’t have such clearance and would not want to risk granting such waiver on their own without.
Kristina Reports learnt that the Bonny Local Government Chairman, David Irimagha later directed that they allow the evacuation of the goods from the cargo boats that brought them from Port Harcourt, a development that now served as the respite needed to save the situation, as some of the traders have reportedly begun to clear their goods.
A trader, who simply identified herself as Jovita, hwoever, said her consignment of drinks have been held at the Coal Beach since its arrival on Sunday, June 21, 2020. According to her, she could not move them to her shop along Mission Road because of the lockdown order.
“My drinks are held up there at the beach, no way to bring them to my shop. Same thing with other traders who have their perishable good there too. Those goods must have spoilt by now. That is the cost traders have to bear in this lockdown.”
Another trader, who does not want to be named, said “my baskets of tomatoes, pepper and other things are in the warehouse there and they are getting spoilt. Me and my children can’t eat and I can’t sell to my customers who have been complaining of hunger because those goods are there”.
“Is this how they do lockdown? Is this not wickedness? How can people be subjected to this kind of suffering? At least the Governor should have given a day or two notice so that we can carry our goods and bring them to our shops instead of losing their amount of money buying the goods and bringing them to Bonny but can’t take them home.”
The same blockade is also being enforced in Finima where goods worth millions of Naira were said to be held up at the jetty with traders not allowed to evacuate them. There are fears that in the coming days the perishable goods would have been lost to their owners and the millions of Naira spent in purchasing them gone down the drain.
The general lamentation of hunger and lack of access of buying of foodstuffs has now been aggravated with these losses as even if there is a pause in the lockdown there may not be foodstuffs to purchase by residents.
I thought waivers had already be granted by the federal government for task force on lockdown to allow food items to be convered during lockdown. The lockdown is for the good of the people, but sometimes the ways its being enforce seems like punishment.The impromptu announcement and immediate enforcement have caused more harm than good.