By CHARLES IWUOHA

Hon Harrison Ogara, member representing Igbo Eze South in the Enugu State House of Assembly, has decried the move by the state government to demolish the Ogige Market and Nsukka Motor Park.

News Express reports that the Enugu State Government had recently issued a 72-hour demolition notice to shop owners to vacate the market.

According to the government, it was planning to move a modern transport terminal in the area.

The move, however, is being resisted by some stakeholders who are worried over the economic crisis the planned demolition may impose on the citizens.

About three National and State assemblies members had in a joint statement, appealed to Governor Peter Mbah to suspend the exercise, especially as there was no alternative arrangement for the traders, nor compensation for the shop owners.

In a similar vein, Hon Harrison Ogara, in a statement on Friday drew the attention of the state government to the “dangers of evicting over 7,000 traders from Ogige Nsukka Market without any alternative market to relocate them.”

According to him, the traders with “market value of over N10 billion have moved their wares to their homes because there are no alternative markets”.

He said: “As of the last time I checked, the Aku road market was essentially conceptualised by the then Nsukka Local government under Barrister Tony Ugwu to be a GSM market with less than 150 shops.

“It is then surprising that that was where the “Ahithophels” of our time wrongly advised the Enugu government to move the thousands of traders.

“The worst anybody close to His Excellency could do to him is to continue to sycophantically advise him to shut his eyes against the impending catastrophe and deaths that could be recorded in time to come because of this singular action.

“The current chaotic situation at Ogige Market is better imagined than experienced.

“Inside the market, there are thousands who are just traders as well as tenants. There are thousands who picked facilities from the nearby community banks to stock up these shops, paying back as they make sales.

“If we compensate the shop owners, what do we do to the displaced traders who feed from their daily incomes?

“It is even more scorching when we learnt that these traders in the past few months have paid 25k as yearly taxes to the government. If we knew we would be demolishing the market, why did we force them to pay the tax for the year 2024?

“My advice was that the Government could release funds, go to the Ikpa market some three kilometres away from town and get the market fixed for the traders to move in.

“The other suggestion I made was that to avoid heavy collateral damage, an interchange like this will not be too good inside the town Opi junction (the gateway to the North) with a large expanse of land could have made more sense to serve vehicles coming to and from the Northern region and other parts of Nigeria.

“It is dangerous to continue to urge the government on, over an issue as delicate as this.

“It will certainly be an act of cowardice if I decide to keep mum in the face of the impending tragedies that may follow an action such as this. I salute you all.”

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