Daniel Efe/Port Harcourt
Traders in the popular busy gateway roundabout in Rumuokoro in Obio-Akpor local government are crying out to Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State to quickly intervene to break the bottleneck that has hindered allocation of open and lockup shops in the Ultra-Modern Market and motor park to save them the agony of trading openly at the busy Roundabout.
Investigation carried out by our Correspondent revealed that the good intent of the state Governor Wike, who was a two time Chairman of Obio-Akpor to build the market and park is gradually being defeated as the Market and Motor park commissioned amidst controversy on July 24, 2017 are yet to be allocated and put into full use.
Traders and Taxi drivers spoken to lamented that they are forced to constantly operate at the roundabout, exposed to inclement weather and security risks because quite often some of them have been ran over by reckless drivers.
Owhonda Mike and Okechukwu Ibe who are traders in Rumokoro roundabout lamented separately that all their high hopes of benefitting from the open or lockup shops in the new market have been dashed as the shops have not been allocated to potential traders.
According to them “This is the second big market and motor park built within the same area close to the council Secretariat that are not fully allocated for use. There is the Obio-Akpor International Market along the popular F-SARS Road in Obio-Akpor and now the new one in Rumuokoro. We are not happy trading close to the ever busy road. Two months ago a Commercial taxi driver was shot dead at the roundabout by a mobile Policeman escorting a company truck”
A source at the Obio-Akpor Local Government Council confided in our Correspondent that there are salient host community issues that needed to be sorted out before allocation can commence.
Due to trading and other commercial activities at the busy roundabout there is always a perennial traffic congestion in the gateway road.