Nasir Imam
3 July 2009
Traders in Abuja now live in fear that the markets in which they do business will soon be closed down by the relevant agencies of the Federal Capital Territory over sanitary and related issues.
The first group of traders to respond to this fear are traders at UTC shopping Complex in Area 7, who recently cleaned their market and dislodged over 1000 illegal squatters, whose attachments were removed from within the market.
Fielding questions from journalists on the issue, the Chairman of UTC traders' Association, Prince Ngene Nwoye said the association was prompted to carry out the sanitization exercise because of the continued closure of Garki Model Market over alleged poor sanitary condition.
"We don't want this complex to be closed down again, it has been closed down before and we cannot afford to have it closed down again and that is why we carried out the action because we are all witnesses to what is happening in Garki Model Market," he stated.
Nwoye however urged the government to assist the dislodged squatters, arguing that they are also Nigerian who desire to be engaged positively.
It will be recalled that Garki Model Market was closed down two weeks by officials of the Abuja Environmental Protection Board due to its alleged filthy condition.
Speaking on the issue, the Manager of the complex, Barrister Emmanuel Ekong, commended the UTC Shopping Complex Traders' Association for the initiative taken to clean their market. He urged members of other traders' associations within the Federal Capital City to take imitate the UTC traders.
Also speaking, the Corporate Affairs Manager of Abuja Markets Management Limited, Innocent Amaechina informed traders not to wait for government to close down their market but to obey simple rules regarding the use of the market as well as pay their service charges to ensure optimal service delivery by the market management company.
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