Gladys Nweke
Contrary to the popular impression that street trading in Port Harcourt is as a result of inadequate shops for traders in government’s owned markets, more than 500 shops are said to be unused in the Mile 3 ultra modern market built by the Rivers State Government.
Chairman, Bayelsa Line in the Market, Godwin Nwosu, disclosed this in an interview with TCPN in Port Harcourt on Monday.
Nwosu stated that most traders have abandoned quite a large number of shops allotted to them in the government-owned markets in preference to trading in the streets due to the search for better patronage by customers.
He expressed regrets that while traders who pay huge sums to rent shops at the market suffer low patronage, illegal street traders become the first place of the call by customers.
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The Market Chairman who pledged sustained support by his members to the efforts of the state government towards stamping out street trading in Port Harcourt stressed that the fight against street trading is one that must be won.
He commended the state government in its efforts to check street trading, saying that more than 500 shops in the ultramodern Mile 3 market are empty because the owners have abandoned them.
“Some street traders have two or more shops, but they prefer to trade in the streets because they feel that patronage is low inside the market”
He added that 75% of the accumulated dirt in the city are caused by activities of street traders who he accused of littering everywhere with wastes.
Nwosu also said the Thursday sanitation exercise being carried out in the markets is a strategy that has improved the sanitary conditions of the markets.
“Thursday Sanitation is compulsory for all traders. We attach more seriousness to it than that of the state government’s monthly sanitation”
He urged traders in the markets at the grassroots areas of the state to join in the Thursday weekly sanitation exercise so as to keep the markets clean, while also stressing the need for traders to imbibe the spirit of cleanliness. “It is not for government but in our own interest” he noted.
