Iya-Oloja of the federation calls for more markets in FCT

Chief Dr. Mujidat Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, the national leader of Nigerian traders and Iya-loja General of the federation, has urged affluent private developers to invest more in the development of Abuja’s markets in order to accommodate small-time roadside vendors who have received eviction notices from the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) and the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCDA).

Speaking to reporters in Abuja shortly after the New Apo Auto Parts/Mechanic Complex’s foundation was laid on Tuesday, Chief Folashade expressed regret for the traders who must deal with the acute shortage and high cost of stores on a daily basis. He pointed out that those who sell by the sides of the road do not have better options and would move willingly if given the chance.

The Iyaloja applauded the Apo complex’s building, claiming that it will relieve traffic on the roadways and aid vendors who are about to be evicted from their locations. However, she urged that the pricing of the stores be kept within the reach of vendors.

In his inaugural remarks, Chief Kinsley Okwudili (Ajiegbe), the occasion’s chairman, hoped that the market would bring long-term comfort to thousands of traders who would otherwise have to leave their makeshift shops by the side of the road.

He expressed his happiness that the Nurembeger Group, a private developer with expertise in real estate and construction, had accepted the challenge of offering substitute stores to hundreds of traders impacted by the eviction order.

“We have reason to be thankful to God on this day of the Nurnberger Auto-parts/Mechanic complex groundbreaking ceremony. We give God even more thanks for allowing our brother to recognize the chance to help the government support the traders at the Apo mechanic village, whose livelihoods and businesses are in danger of being disrupted by the government’s planned road construction,” he said.

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The Auto-parts/Mechanic complex, according to Dr. Anthony Chike Ezekwugo, Executive Director of Nurnberger Group, “will be first of a kind in Nigeria in many ways when completed. It is a unique and phenomenal project.” The facility will be Nigeria’s first off-grid market, to start with. To serve the market, the construction will have more than sixty warehouses, one thousand, three hundred (1,300) lockable stores, a police station, a fire station, and a medical facility.

In order to meet the fundamental and social needs of the residents of the market and its surroundings, it also features two banking building units, houses of worship, and a shopping center with more than 40 commercial spaces.

He pledged that the facility would employ over 1,000 Nigerian youths profitably during the construction phase and get them off the streets once work on it starts in earnest.

Dr. Ezekwugu stressed that when the project is finished, it will offer the Apo traders a competitive alternative and spur rapid growth in the surrounding area.

He expressed his gratitude to Chief Dr. Mujidat Folasade Tinubu-Ojo, the Iyaloja General, for her unwavering support and demonstration of solidarity by traveling to Abuja in person to lay the project’s cornerstone, which he guaranteed would be finished in 48 months.