TRADERS BEG SOLUDO OVER COLLAPSED DRAINAGE THREATENING OVER 20 SHOPS AT ODERA, ARTHUR EZE ROAD MARKETS. (PHOTOS). #PRESS RELEASE.

 TRADERS BEG SOLUDO OVER COLLAPSED DRAINAGE THREATENING OVER 20 SHOPS AT ODERA, ARTHUR EZE ROAD MARKETS

By Maureen Agbala

Traders at Odera Market and the Old Timber/Arthur Eze Road Market in Awka have appealed to Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo to urgently intervene over a collapsed concrete drainage system that is causing severe flooding and putting more than 20 shops at risk of total collapse.

The traders raised the alarm on Saturday, July 4, during the Anambra State statewide environmental sanitation exercise at the Odera Market, Awka.

Speaking at the event, the Chairman of Odera Market, Comrade Nnaemeka Nworah, said the drainage infrastructure, which has served the market for over a decade, has now fully given way, with dire consequences for surrounding shops.

"This drainage has been existing for more than ten years and now all the drainages have collapsed and are affecting the shops, they are about to go down," he said.

Nworah explained that floodwater from neighbouring communities, Amaenyi, Umudioka, and Umuogbunu drains through the market, compounding the flooding during heavy rainfall. 

"Every time there is heavy rain, we are always uncomfortable in the market because everywhere will be flooded and goods are damaged," he said, adding that traders at the Old Timber/Arthur Eze Road Market face the same ordeal.

The Chairman of the Old Timber Market, Mr. Chukwujekwe Maduka, said traders had been managing the situation independently for years but can no longer bear the financial burden now that the drainage has fully collapsed. He disclosed that the local government chairman had been informed and promised a visit but was yet to do so due to schedule constraints.

Maduka commended Governor Soludo, whom he described as "one of the best governors with a brain bigger than Anambra State," and pleaded for immediate government intervention. "We are pleading for him to come and help us because all the drainages have collapsed and it is seriously affecting the shops," he said.

Traders, who turned out in large numbers for the sanitation exercise, joined in commending Governor Soludo's active leadership while calling on the government to urgently reconstruct the drainage system to prevent further loss of goods, property, and livelihoods.

More photos below.