David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
Members of Old Motor Spare Parts Association, Nkwo Nnewi Market, in Anambra State, have cried to the State government to save them from gully erosion threatening to sack them.
Chairman of the association, Mr. Chinedu Enyeribe, on Wednesday, lamented that over 15 shops had already caved into the advancing erosion, with many others on the verge of being swallowed.
He said the association had applied all the palliative measures it could afford to no avail “and the situation is beyond our control now.”
Enyeribe said the erosion did not only destroy the shops, but, also, their goods, as the incidents mostly happened at nights after heavy rains. He said victims of the disaster had remained helpless with the hope that government would come to their rescue.
The association’s chairman said it would be unfair for the traders to be paying taxes and the necessary levies in the market and still be neglected. Apart from the erosion menace, he decried absence of access roads to the market, which he noted had greatly hampered trading activities in the market.
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In a related development, traders at Agbo-Edo market, Nkwo had issued a fresh warning to the leadership of the market not to tamper with their stalls allegedly marked for demolition.
Spokesman of the traders, which have women in majority, Ernest-Mary Ezenwa, said any attempt to knock at any stall by the leadership of the market union, Anambra State government or their agents in the market would receive stiff resistance.
He claimed that the Chairman of Nnewi North Council Area, Chukwudi Orizu, and other stakeholders in the industrial community had asked the demolisher to stay action until the issue is resolved and wondered why those behind the demolition would insist to go ahead.
He lamented what he called excessive taxation in the market without recourse to the level of income of the tax and levy payers in the market.
However, the leader of the association in the market, Christopher Osuchukwu, denied any excessive taxation.
He said all taxes and levies imposed in the market were according to State government’s specifications with receipts. He explained that the traders were earlier notified on the said demolition to pave way for the construction of good drainages in the market. He said it was government’s plan and not the association’s.