From Joe Effiong, Uyo
Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State, has only one major market, called Urua Akpanandem. The nearest major market is the Urua Itam, But that is in Itu Local Government Area.
The effect of this inadequacy is that there are more traders along the streets of Uyo than in Urua Akpanandem, Urua Itam and other makeshift places arbitrarily converted to markets and sales points by the traders.
It now appears selling or buying inside the market in Uyo is old-fashioned, while roadside business is the in-thing. From the fence of the University of Uyo to the popular Ibom Plaza to all the major roads and streets, the rising activities of roadside trading around markets and city centres in Uyo metropolis have become a source of concern.
When marketmen and women started becoming street traders, the state government, noy long ago, banned street trading and went ahead to set up a task force to ensure full compliance. But all seems to have been wasted effort as traders have even become defiant, ignoring the street trading ban and have set up stalls, dislaying their wares in the streets.
When our correspondent visited the two markets to find out why traders preferred streets to markets, many of the them said they had to leave the marker because the unhygienic condition of the markets was terrible.
It was indeed observed that stagnant water and heaps of rubbish left unattended to for days littered the market. The traders said the rainy season was their worst period, as everywhere was usually flooded inside the market, making it difficult for buyers to consider coming in to buy anything, except tems not found by the roadside.
Daily Sun learn that some of those selling along the road were actual shop owners in the market who took their wares to the streets to gain patronage. This arrangement has resulted in more than half of the lock-up shops in the market being vacant due to the bad state of the market.
Billy, a yam seller along Udo Umana Road, by Akpanandem Market, said the situation got worse during lockdown occasioned by the outbreak of COVID-19 when markets were locked for fumigation.
He said after the supposed fumigation, people who had been trading by the roadside refused to return to their stalls inside the market, even when the market was reopened for normal market sessions.