By Grace Samuel
Authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), has threatened to shut down Utako market due to carelessness and poor sanitations within and out side the market Area.
The FCTA said the step is to ensure healthy living among residents of the area and to discourage poor sanitations and poor hygiene attitudes by the market vendors.
The FCT Administration also disclosed that closure of the market will avert health epidemic and protect the general public from unhealthy consumption of food items.
Utako Market is managed and controlled by the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and is said to be one of the largest markets located in Utako district, within the Abuja city centre.
The leader of the task force and Director, Development Control Department, Mukhtar Galadima, revealed that the deteriorated state of sanitation in Utako Market was very alarming.
Related Posts
“The market has become a time bomb and disaster waiting to happen”, said Galadima, adding that, “there was an urgent need to clean up the market and ensure that disaster and epidemic were averted.”
Galadima expressed displeasure that such a market located within the heart of the city of Abuja could be allowed by its managers to degenerate to a place where both human and environmental safety was compromised.
He also said that proactive measures must be taken for safety. He promised to convene an emergency meeting with all the stakeholders in the market. He also decried that the market managers had illegally allowed the market to overflow into the major streets around Utako residential areas.
According to Galadima, the taskforce would take possible actions to stop all the traders from occupying the streets again, because they had started vandalising and defacing the road infrastructure.
The Secretary of FCTA’s Command and Control, Peter Olumuji, also said apart from the nuisances in the area, residents around the neighbourhood had also complained of security threats from the market.
Olumuji equally disclosed that the market had been overtaken by idle youths and suspected hard drug addicts, even though there is no case of arrest of any suspect yet yet. He noted that the National Drug Laws Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) had been briefed to pay close attention to the people that hang around the market area without any reason, with the aim of curbing every form of drug peddling activities.
