•One of the blocked sewages at the market
A cross-section of traders and visitors to the Wuse Market in Abuja, the nation’s capital, has expressed concern over the condition of a sewage line that has continued to spill its contents into the business facility.
Our correspondent visited the market on Tuesday, traders identified not less than five sewage manhole covers in front of a popular supermarket and a commercial bank, said to be affected by blockage, reports Daily Trust.
A trader, Alkasim Abdullahi, said people who operate businesses around the location, as well as visitors, have to meander their way through liquid excreta spilling into the market from the sewage.
“We have reported the issues to the market’s management on several occasions, but there has been no action taken to address the problem,’’ he said.
Also speaking, a visitor to the market, who simply gave her name as Mrs Ola, said she always felt bad seeing the waste spilling onto the market floor, adding that it posed a health hazard.
A trader in the market, Precious John, noted that a very disturbing odour used to emanate from the water in the afternoon when the sun’s temperature was high.
Another trader, Abubakar Sadiq, said some volunteers operating two public toilets in the market used to clear the blockage in the past. “But they are no longer doing that since the two facilities were demolished by the authorities about two months ago, for another new building plan.”
When contacted, the manager in charge of the market, under the Abuja Market Management Limited, Zubairu Ibrahim, linked the development to some business malls built on the edge of the market, which, he said, his agency had no control over.
He, however, said the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) had been contacted to address the problem as soon as possible.
A trader in the market, however, informed our correspondent on phone that some good Samaritans carried out a temporary work on the sewage by emptying parts of its content yesterday.
