Traders Cry For Help As Flood Ravages Ariaria Market

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.

-TheSunNews