By Taiye Bayode
The State Govt, through the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has pledged its full support for the Association of Hawkers and Petty Traders Progressive Initiative, Kogi Chapter, with the Honourable Commissioner of Commerce & Industry, Alhaji Muhammed Muktar Shuaibu, assuring the group that the Ministry would advocate facilitate whatever support becomes available to its members.
The pledge came as the Commissioner received members of the association’s National and State Executive Council at the State Secretariat, in Lokoja today.
The association’s delegation led by the State Chairman, Abdulahi Ataboh Enejo, explained that they had come to formally introduce its national and state leadership to the Ministry, intimate it of the association’s existence and objectives in Kogi State, seek guidance and partnership on initiatives that would promote structured trading and empower Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and present the key challenges confronting hawkers and petty traders across the State, with a view to proposing areas of collaboration with government through the Ministry.
Responding after receiving a ceremonial award from the association, the Commissioner commended the group for organising hawkers and petty traders across the State into a structured body, describing data collection as one of the most important tools any organisation can bring to government today, urging the association’s comprehensive data collection exercise covering all 21 Local Government Areas, capturing its members by trade and location, while sharing this with the Ministry to strengthen its own database of small-scale traders.
Speaking further, Hon. Shuaibu who commended Governor Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo’s continued drive to bringing grassroots economic actors, including artisans, traders and other informal-sector operators, into the State’s broader entrepreneurship and empowerment programmes, also cited recent engagements between the State Government and young entrepreneurs as evidence of this commitment, while cautioning the association’s leadership on keeping its operations strictly focused on trade advocacy.
While the Commissioner stressed the importance of the body remaining open and representative of all its members regardless of political or other affiliations, he also reiterated why this is important to preserve its credibility and cohesion.
In her remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Hajia Sualihat Musa Amana, welcomed the association and commended its efforts at data gathering, noting that the exercise aligned closely with an ongoing State Government policy on the registration of small business owners which the Ministry is currently implementing, encouraging the association to work directly with the Ministry’s SME Secretary to harmonise its data with the Ministry’s own database, stressing that a well-documented, credible dataset of hawkers and petty traders would strengthen any advocacy made on their behalf.
The Association of Hawkers and Petty Traders Progressive Initiative, established in 2025, describes itself as a unified body promoting the welfare, growth and dignity of hawkers and petty traders across Kogi State’s 21 Local Government Areas, with members engaged in the sale of food items, household goods, textiles and other essential commodities that sustain livelihoods within the State’s informal economy.
Among its stated objectives are the promotion of unity, discipline and progressive trading practices among hawkers and petty traders; collaboration with government on policies that support small-scale commerce and poverty alleviation; the provision of a platform for capacity building, financial literacy and access to government intervention programmes; and the promotion of orderliness and compliance with State laws and market regulations.
Earlier, the State Chairman, Alhaji Abdulahi Ataboh Enejor, and State Secretary, Comrade Aliyu Omeiza Muhammed, the association’s delegation briefed the Ministry on its structure, which it said extends from the state level through 21 local government coordinators, down to ward-level leadership and registered market associations across the State.
During the visit, Special Senior Assistants attached to the Ministry also engaged with the association, with the SSA on Women Entrepreneurship, Mrs. Munirat Ibrahim & Mrs Khadijat Obaro Isiaka commending the association for stepping forward to represent hawkers and petty traders, and encouraged its members to key into ongoing State Government entrepreneurship initiatives targeted at grassroots operators.
SSA on Commerce and Industry, Hon. Shuaib Abdullahi Orijo, also sought clarity on the precise nature of the association’s mandate and its intended relationship with the Ministry, a question the association’s leadership addressed by clarifying that it remains fundamentally a trade advocacy body focused on the welfare, organisation and formal recognition of hawkers and petty traders across the State.
