Uyo Mechanic Village Has Brought Ruins To Afaha Offot - Village Head

*It's now a hub of criminality -Retired Asst. Customs Controller

By Ofonime Honesty/ Mercy Obot

Eteidung David Okon Etuk, village head of Afaha Offot in Uyo Local Government Area has bemoaned the fate of his village as host community of the Mechanic Village, the automobiles repairs and spare parts sales market.

Testifying on Tuesday before the panel of enquiry set up by the Uyo Local Government Council, Eteidung Etuk said the mechanic village has gained no advantage from the market, that it has rather constituted woes upon his community.

According to him, "not all those in mechanic clothing are mechanics, some are armed robbers, drugs peddlers and all sort of criminals."

He said metal scrap dealers have a negative influence on the youth of his community through luring them into cultism, robbery, illicit drugs trade and other heinous activities, and further alleged that scrap dumps also serves as an arsenal for dangerous weapons like guns used by the suspected criminals.

He added, "as I speak, my community has a very high rate of HIV due to the wanton and indiscriminate sexual activities of these people. Unwanted pregnancies are also rampant in my community, my people have become grandfathers of children they never wanted."

He appealed to Uyo Local Government and the state government to ensure that those involved in various trades at the mechanic village operate in line with the law.

"I also call for the ban of ceremonies being hosted inside the location of the dump in the mechanic village because whenever they do it, they shoot gun indiscriminately.

I would have called for their outright sacking, but if they can't abide by the rules of the village, they should leave. They are constituting nuisance," Eteidung Etuk stated.

He lamented that the only tarred road in the village constructed Governor Udom Emmanuel administration is being made impassable by the scrap dealers and others, who litter it including the gutters, with condemned oil, burnt tyres, unserviceable vehicles, etc.

The royal father said the mechanic village is over populated and should be decentralized with the creation of additional location in other senatorial districts in the state.

According to him, since the forceful acquisition of the land from Afaha Offot about 40 years ago, for the Mechanic Village project, no compensation has ever been paid to the village, adding the it is only under the administration of the current chairman of Uyo LGA, Dr. Uwemedimo Udo, that a percentage of revenue earned from the mechanic village has been concessioned to them.

Ejike Okoro, scrap dealer, who owns the canopy where the suspected assailant, Nwankwo Samuel Ugochukwu operates from, told the Panel that he was not on ground when the crisis started on Saturday due to his ill health.

Okoro, who hails from Enugu State, however expressed displeasure over the violent attitude of the boys occupying the shed he rented.

"Under my shed, these boys who are about 20, scuffle among themselves and to mitigate the situation, I often report the issue to the Union Chairman about their misconducts," he said.

He appealed to the panel to prevail upon government to dislodge all occupants of the shed to avoid further misconduct.

Reacting to a question on why he is still into metal scavenging in spite of a subsisting ban on the business, Okoro said he lacks funds to start a new business but that he is now concentrating on motor scraps.

Chairman, Revenue Committee of the Mechanic Village, Comrade Mfon Inyang submitted documents detailing his committee's position and recommendations to the panel. 

He recommended that all technicians and other dealers working in the mechanic village should be registered, and membership forms provided by Uyo Local Government Council.

He suggested, "There should be prohibition against selling any piece of land in the mechanic village, all apprentice must have an identification cards detailing their professions of their masters and shop numbers, security agencies should place 'no parking signs' in front of mechanic village and streets leading to Afaha Offot village council hall, scrap dealers and drug cartels should be removed from the Mechanic Village."

Fielding questions on revenue, Inyang added that government collects very meagre fares, noting that "Occupants are making more money than Uyo Council because they are remitting about N3,000 to the Council yearly and 20 Percent of the revenue is given to the community while 1 percent to NATA" 

"There are about 640 shops in the mechanic village and one person, owning three shops or more, pays only 3,000 for these shops while Scrap dealers pay nothing to the council."

On his part, Mr Jacob Matthew Akpan, an indigene and entrepreneur in the hospitality sector in the community, decried that the mechanic village is an opposite of what it was meant to be.

Akpan, a retired assisted controller of customs, said available intelligence indicate that stolen vehicles are often taken there, dismembered and sold in parts.

He also called for clamping down on scrap metals dealers, road side mechanics and illicit drugs peddlers.

He called on the local government council to contract a waste management agency to work at the mechanic village.

"The agency shall be paid from the sanitation levy imposed on them because all of them at the mechanic village generate waste."

Akpan also commended the state government for banning scrap metal scavenging in the state.