Gov Otti visits scene of burnt markets in Aba, promises to rebuild shops

 Dr. Alex Otti, the governor of Abia State, paid a visit on Sunday to the area of Ahia Ohuru (New Market) on Ngwa Road in Aba that was completely destroyed by fire on Saturday night.

After attending worship at the Methodist Church, Wesley Cathedral, Aba, and joining the congregation for the Annual Covenant Thanksgiving Service, Governor Otti made his way directly to the market.

Otti expressed disapproval of the dilapidated state of the buildings housing the market stalls in a statement signed by Nwahiwe Chinonyerem Cleverson, Information Officer, Government House Press. Otti claimed that the buildings' layout and condition posed a serious risk to human life and were unsuitable for human habitation.

Thus, the Governor—along with his spouse, Mrs. Priscilla Otti; the Chief of Staff, Dr. Caleb Ajagba; Chief Uche Wogu, the Mayor of Aba South; and a few other state officers and market executives—promised to negotiate with the traders via the market leadership in order to first move them to a temporary location, then rebuild the place and bring them back.

“First of all, this place is not worthy for anyone to stay. All these places. This (the structure) will soon cave in. So, what we need to do is engage the market leadership. All these buildings need to go down from A to Z. So we can relocate them to a temporary place and rebuild here, then they come back,” the Governor said.

He added: “Modern market shouldn’t be like this, they (the traders) need help. A fire truck can’t even enter here, so we should have that in mind when we are planning.”

Turning to the Chairman of the market, the Governor enquired how long the structure had been in existence to which the Chairman, Mr. Uchekwukwu Anyanwu replied, “over 30 years”.

According to Anyanwu, most of the structures were not meant for multiple floors but traders started converting them to multi-story buildings.

Otti directed the leadership of the market to liaise with the local government chairman to engage with the Greater Aba Development Authority (GADA) to discuss how to fix the market and come back to him.

“So you work together and come back to me on what I will need to engage with the market people. First of all, there must be somewhere to relocate them to, then you bring the entire place down and we rebuild and they will come back. There should be proper ventilation,” he instructed.