From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
Anambra State Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, on Friday, marked over 100 shops in Ochanja Market, Onitsha for demolition.
Soludo said that the marked buildings have structural defaults such as cracked walls and decking, weak pillars and others. He also said that some of the buildings were obstructing the roads into the market.
The governor, represented by the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Dr. Obinna Ngonadi, led a joint taskforce and professionals to monitor the various sections of the market.
He described the affected buildings as illegal structures erected in the market without the government’s approval. He said that the administration had resolved to decongest markets and, therefore, warned owners of illegal structures to quickly remove them or get ready to pay the government if it carries out the task on their behalf.
Chairman of Anambra State Physical Planning Board, Mr Chike Maduekwe, assured that Anambra State Materials Testing Laboratory would visit all the markets to test the structural integrity of their buildings so as to find out those to be spared with some amendment and those to be demolished outright.
Speaking during the exercise, the Caretaker Committee Chairman, Ochanja Market, Mr Bonaventure Muo, hailed the governor for the move, assuring that they would continue to support the government’s programmes to sanitise the markets.
The team later visited the Building Materials Market at Ogidi and Ogbunike to assess their level of compliance to the traders/markets enumeration exercise, and hailed traders for complying with the government’s orders.
Soludo said that the data capturing exercise was to gather comprehensive data of all traders and their enterprises with a view to taking proper care of their welfare, security and other purposes.
Chairman of the Building Materials Market (Ogidi), Mr Jude Okonkwo and Mr Adinu Onyechi of Building Materials 2 and 3 (Ogidi and Ogbunike), commended the governor for the move, promising to mobilise all their members to participate actively in it.