From David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
Sanitary condition of abattoirs at Nkwo Nnewi main market in Anambra State has received a boost as the Acting chairman and Head of Local Government Administration for Nnewi North council area, Chief Innocent Osibe has flagged off a water borehole project for butchers there.
During a flag off ceremony of the water project which took place at the butchers’ section of the market, yesterday, Chief Osibe explained that the water project was aimed at reducing the sufferings of the butchers and other traders in that market.
He said that there was an existing water borehole in the market but regretted that the initial project for quite a long time was not supplying water to the butchers which he said called for the new borehole project.
Osibe noted that his administration fully appreciated the need for clean water in the business line of butchers which, according to him, equally had a net effect on the quality of meat that would be sold to the consumers.
He said that the water project was expected to gulp as much as N2 million and that the council area would source for funds to ensure quick completion of the project, adding that the cost when compared with the health of the people in the council area was not so much.
Osibe who has just spent two months in office urged the butchers to take ownership of the project and ensure that the borehole facilities were adequately protected and effectively managed.
The council boss who commended the Anambra state governor, Chief Willie Obiano for undertaking to work on the major roads at the ever busy Nkwo Nnewi market said that the local government would take up the responsibilities of working on the inland roads in the market.
He also expressed the preparedness of his administration to give the butchers a modern toilet facilities to aid the butchers carry out their business with ease and convenience and that the butchers and their customers would not have to run home whenever the need to answer the call of nature arose.
This, according to, however, depended on availability of funds. He solicited for continued support of Nnewi traders to the administration of Chief Willie Obiano which he said was very passionate about the welfare of traders.
The contractor handling the water borehole project, Engr Gabriel Igboanusi, who is the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of M/S Gabby Systems Engineering Company Limited assured the local government officials and the butchers as well as other stakeholders in the market that his company would deliver on record time and that a quality borehole would be sunk.
The Chairman, Nnewi Butchers Association, Chief Amobi Nnoruka on the occasion thanked the Nnewi North local government area for rising to the occasion of providing water borehole which would alleviate their sufferings.
He noted that the butchers had been passing through some horrible experiences due to lack of water in that section of the market as they were forced to buy water from commercial water tankers.
Chief Nnoruka said the intervention was a welcome development and reassured the council area that the butchers would take good care of the water project.
The acting Nnewi North local government chairman, Chief Osibe was accompanied by the treasurer for the council, Mr Paul Anikpe, the internal auditor, Mrs Eucharia Ezeanwe and the HOD Education and Social Welfare to the flag off of the water borehole project.