Traders at popular Pessu Market in Warri, Delta State, at the weekend, protested blockage of Pesu River by operators of sawmills, a development they claimed had paralysed commercial activities at the market.
The river connects Delta Steel Company (DSC), Aladja; NPA Warri; Escravos, and other riverine communities in Warri South and Warri South West councils.
Wastes from sawmills and logs of woods have blocked free flow of traffic on the river, making it impossible for boats and canoes to access Pessu market jetty to deliver supplies and also take deliveries.
Chief Rita Lori – Ogbebor, the Igba of Warri Kingdom and Itsekiri women leader, who toured the market and the river, told newsmen the blockage had paralysed activities at the market and cut off supplies of fresh fish and other products from riverine communities.
She said government had neglected the market, which used to be a hub of commercial activities,, describing the Pesu market abattoir as an eyesore.
Lori-Ogbebor, who led the women to the offices of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), the Warri South council, and the Federal and Delta State ministries of environment to register their displeasure, called on governments to dredge the river to revive the economy of the oil city.
She said: “Something urgent must be done here because what I am seeing here is disaster waiting to happen. When the Warri women cried to me about the river, I did not know that it was this bad.
“These women are mothers, who trade in this market but because of the blockage of the river, they find it difficult to transport their wares from the market to other places. If there is no buying and selling in this market, it is the economy that will suffer,” she said.
At the office of the Warri South Council Chairman, Dr. Michael Tidi, Chief Lori-Ogbenor called for urgent measures to reverse the neglect of the Warri River and Pesu market.
Tidi, who complained of meagre allocation to the councils, promised to notify relevant authorities of the blocked river and market.
