Abia : Ikpeazu Worse Than T. Orji – Ariaria Traders Cry Out (See Photos)

Aba used to be described as the melting point of the Igbo race. It is a city where at least every family in Igbo land was not found. Indeed, anybody who is somebody in Igbo land no matter where he is residing presently had his roots in Aba. These coalesce and congregation of Ndigbo in Aba was not for nothing. The Igbo being by nature enterprising people; who have taken commerce to its limits, found Aba, equally a commercial city an allur­ing abode.


But regrettably, Aba, a city that used to compare favour­ably with ancient cities like Gao, Timbuktu, kano and oth­ers in terms of commerce is now a ghost of itself owing to some inexplicable reasons. The past administration could not put adjoining roads in the city in good condition, mak­ing it impossible for traders who come from neighbouring states and even Cameroon to access Aba to purchase their goods, the result being that traders in Aba were put out of business.
Traders in some parts of Ariaria International are facing what has been described as double wahala which could be found in bad roads which dot the whole landscape of the city and the debilitating flooding that is ravaging the popu­lar A –Line and the drug section of the market. Indeed the past eight years have not been the best of times for traders in this part of the city.
Aba Metro gathered that in 2014, patent medicine deal­ers at the drugs section of the market lost goods worth over N2 billion to the flood. The traders alleged that flooding of the area was aggravated by a building erected on a water way adjacent the market close to the portion of the State Fire service. This obstructive structure is reported to be owned by the son of a powerful former government official. The flooding, the traders said is further made worse by the deplorable nature of roads in the market and the Ukwu Mango area which the last administration in the state claimed to have rehabilitated.
The traders have, therefore, sent a save our soul mes­sage to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, saying that if nothing was done urgently, the flood would not only sack them from their area of business but will also submerge the entire section of the market which they said is the pride of Ariaria.
Speaking with Aba Metro, the traders, who appeared to have regretted the day they got shops in that section of the market, lamented the double trouble of daily wading through the muddy and sinking flood water with its at­tendant health hazard and the loss of their customers they have suffered over the years with no end in sight. They ex­pressed fear that if the flood was not checked, they would soon be out of business as the flood is not abating.
A trader at A-Line, who gave his name as Chimaobi, appeal to the governor to declare the place a disaster area and do something urgently to save them from going out of business. “We want the state Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu to come to our aid. We are really suffering and don’t know what to do. The past administration was only keen in collecting levies from the market, they did not do much to help us and that is why we are calling on Governor Ikpeazu to come to our aid in order to help us come out of this ugly situation we have found ourselves”.
Samuel is another trader at A-Line, he has this to say: “Flood water has entered her shops on several occasions and destroyed our goods. Last year, our neighbours who sell drugs lost goods worth over N2 billion to flood and up till moment, nobody gave them a dime in form of compen­sation”.
Continuing, he said: “We weren’t spared either if not that the drinks and fruit juice we sell can be washed and dried up in the rain. But some people that sell travelling bags also had a share of the flood impact.
“In order not to be beaten twice, since then, some of us now rent some of the lockup shops upstairs which we use as our parking store and use this place that we are now as our display shop and at the end of each market day we pack them upstairs because nobody is sure of when it will rain next”.
When asked about how the situation was affecting their business, the trader retorted: “How many persons did you see coming into this flood to buy or even to price for anything? For you to make any sales in a day, you have to take your goods to where is called Enyimba, that is where our customers now stay and call us on phone to place their orders.
And for you to do this effectively, you must wear your rain boots. In fact, there is no trader in this section of the market that does not owe a pair of rain boots, otherwise you can not enter or come out of your shop.
“It’s good that you are here. It is not a rumour. We can only move in and out of our shops with rain boots. Things are that bad, in fact, the situation has worsened with the rains of yesterday (early Tuesday morning)”, he said.