It was gathered that over seven markets have been sealed by the Anambra State Markets Amalgamated Traders Association, for not opening for business on Monday and not participating in the sanitation exercise as ordered by the state government.
The seven sealed markets are, the Ogbo Afere market, Plastic 1, Plastic 2, Plywood Dealers Association market in Ogbunike, Building Materials in Ogbunike, Bicycle Parts market and Bakery materials market.
In his remarks, Chief Humphrey Anuna, President General, ASMATA, and his team members, during the visit to the affected markets on Monday, expressed disappointment that the markets did not open despite the directive by the state government that all markets should be opening on Mondays.
Anuna stated that the directive was to help restore the lost glory of the markets in the state, which had been affected by the sit-at-home exercise.
Meanwhile, ASMATA PG and his team visited 18 markets across the state, out of which seven were sealed for non-compliance with the directive.
According to Anuna, “Some of the sealed markets only open the gates of their markets for formality’s sake but the executives were nowhere to be seen. The markets need to start opening to restore the lost glory occasioned by the sit-at-home.
“Only the security men who opened the markets were there, even the sanitation exercise was not carried out even if traders were not in the markets. We are more interested in the sanitation exercise after which the market shops will be opened.”
Mr Chinedu Ezekweike, Caretaker Committee Chairman, at the Bridge Head Market, Onitsha, while responding to questions from the PG and his team during the visit to the market, assures that by next week, there would be a massive turnup of traders.
Ezekweike said traders were happy that the Monday sit-at-home is now becoming a thing of the past.
He said, “The Bridge Head Market Monday prayer and clean-up exercise was successful today, market executives and line chairmen complied, as you can see,” he told the PG.
