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Abuja’s war of vacancies
Written by Duncan Wednesday, 21 September 2011
ShareIn the Federal Capital Territory it is a wary game of cat and mouse between officials of the FCT administration, and the brains behind indiscriminate posting of vacancy slots.
A few boys of ages, roughly between 18 and 20 move with a form of rugged determination are across the street somewhere in the Central Business District, CBD. In their hands are bales of paper with ‘vacancy’ inscription on them. In their minds, no doubt, is a mission to paste these vacancy adverts in specific places around the city. For every poster they paste, they will earn a minimal amount of N5. If they are able (individually, of course) to paste 200 of such announcements, then at least they are sure of a princely sum of N1,000 at the end of the day for each participant. They therefore move with feverish intensity and in a matter of minutes they have been able to cover a lot of grounds in their assignment. Nowhere is spared in their concerted actions. Walls, bus stop points, electricity poles, a few grounded cars, pavements, transformers, office gates and practically every available spot is soon adorned with the vacancy adverts. The boys start patting one another on the backs for a relatively well done job. But their profound relief is short lived.
Just like a predator pouncing on its prey, an unmarked van zooms near the unprepared youths in a blur. The van narrowly misses a hawker who has been patiently watching the progress of the mobile advert merchants. Men adorning the unmistakable tops of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board, AEPB, move with amazing precision and quickly surround the dazed boys , who are too petrified to take to their heels. Once rounded up, the boys are herded into the van. For the boys a day which had started on a good note with promises of cash profits, is about to turn awry. For those without any form of parental support of financial muscle, a night in the gulag of the AEPB appears certain. For those who know how to ‘settle’, the encounter may just be a formality ,and soon they will find themselves on the streets again, making a living from the risky but profitable ‘job.’
Today, there is hardly any place in the capital city that can boast of freedom from the ravages of indiscriminate posting of posters. Top on the list of such posters are those advertising diverse kind of vacancies, ostensibly being offered by numerous recruitment agencies. They practically dot the entire landscape of the city. From chaotic Wuse to Berger, highbrow Maitama and Asokoro, Gwarimpa, even to suburban enclaves such as Nyanya, Kpeyegi and Mararaba, it is one intensive battle between recruitment agencies striving to outdo one another in attracting prospective applicants.
While the agencies are making quick profits, offering services to hundreds of the unemployed who seek engagement with private firms, a new set of people are cashing in on the trend. These are unemployed youths who make a little money from pasting such adverts in specific places around the capital city. They are paid on the number of such posters they are able to paste on any particular day with the minimum amount being N5 for each. This has created an urge amongst these youths to make as much profit as possible from each outing. A manager of a recruitment outfit in the city who confided in the reporter, says that these youths are assisted to make a little cash from the assignments, and their creative energy is channelled into profitable ventures rather than destructive tendencies engaged in by other youths. ‘The money they make will at least take care of some of their needs, even if it does not cater for all. Instead of engaging in criminal activities, by pasting posters around the city for a fee is honourable. It is a win-win situation for everybody. We the recruitment agencies get our needs for publicity and patronage met, the youths get paid for their services, the unemployed ones get a chance to obtain their dream jobs and the society is better for it at the end if not for anything but the fact that everybody is kept busy doing profitable things. No matter how any one looks at it, it is situation that benefits everyone involved.’
Officials of the Abuja Environmental
Protection Board however think otherwise. Director of the board, Dr.
Abubakar Yabo, in a recent interaction with city reporters says ‘apart
from defacing the city, the posters constitute great danger to motorists
who might be distracted, especially those placed on bridges and road
signs.’ He urged restraint on the activities of those who engage in
indiscriminate pasting of posters vowing that stringent measures would
be heightened against them. He said that apart from advertising
agencies, political parties were also to blame for the state of affairs.
He enthuses: “they paste posters indiscriminately on bridges, concrete
walls, road signs and we have written series of letter to various
chairmen of political parties to inform them of the dangers such pasting
poses.” He also expressed the frustration of AEPB officials who he said
were tired of removing such pasted posters, since new ones immediately
appear after a few days of such removal exercises. He however expressed
optimism that a bill seeking more stiffer penalties for defaulters,
which is before the National Assembly when passed would go a long way in
mitigating such activities.
An applicant Yusuf Akanni however urges restraint in removing such posters, especially those offering information about job opportunities. He explains that these posted vacancies help those seeking employment in no small measures. His explanation is this: ‘how many applicants can afford to buy newspapers to get information about vacancies? Only a few have the resources to buy papers in their endless job searches. The only other alternative they seem to have is walking around the streets where they are sure to get information on a street wall about a vacancy slot. Even though there are corrupt recruitment agencies, there are still a few out there that are genuine and many have gotten appointment simply by reading of such while walking along the road.’
However their negative environmental
impact seems not to be lost on some residents who decry such and call
on the relevant authorities to regulate poster pasting activities.
‘While they may be useful to a few residents especially the job seekers,
they constitute a nuisance and eye sore for other city residents. Many
governments around the country and even beyond, have laws in place to
dissuade such activities. Abuja’s case should not be different. If the
legitimate needs of these agencies and applicants want to be taken into
consideration by the authorities, then boards can be constructed for
them around the city in specific places, so that they can paste such
vacancies. But what we have at present is hellish,’ says a resident,
Sina Ayodele.
The Aesthetics and Amenities Division of the Development Control Department is also waging a separate war alongside AEPB to dissuade indiscriminate posting of posters. It says that it will continue the removal of signage across the Abuja metropolis, in order not to compromise the plan to make Abuja a world class city. Deputy Director of the Division, Mallam Adamu adds that 33 advertising companies have been given the franchise in the FCT to coordinate erecting of signage by the FCTA, and encouraged residents to consult these before erecting any signage and bill board. Vowing that removal of illegal signage will be a continuous one he also noted that the Aesthetic and Amenities Division of Development Control can also be contacted to get proper approval on the standard required for erecting signage or bill boards.
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