Ikpeazu insists on sanitising Aba despite opposition

ABIA State Governor, Okezie Ikpeazu has said the ongoing war against illegal street-trading in the state would be taken to a logical conclusion despite the heat being generated by the exercise. The governor insisted he would not renege on the exercise until the streets of Aba and Umuahia are cleansed and decorum restored in the cities.
 
Ikpeazu, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Godwin Adindu, noted that government officials and traders in Aba have been having running battles over the attempt to relocate the traders to new sites.
 
According to the governor, “the exercise is for the general good of Abians and part of a large scale programme of infrastructural renewal and environmental restoration of the city of Aba, which is aimed at sanitizing the city and restoring its original map.”

Ikpeazu emphasized that the broad-based programme of restructuring Aba is a cardinal policy thrust of his administration that is being pursued with passion, dedication and every sense of duty.

“I had to conduct a general review and overhauling of the leadership of the markets and the different caretaker committees established by government to oversee issues concerning the markets.
 
“After the relocation of illegal street-traders to the Good Morning Market in Ngwa Road, the train will move down to the Abattoir Market at Waterside, which has to be relocated because of the planned dredging and expansion of the Aba River and from there, to other locations where street trading constitutes an environmental nuisance to the city.”