By: Ezeaku Ndinweozo

Afor Agulu modern market situated at Odidama/ Nneoha village, is the most popular market in our vicinity, though competing with Eke Awgbu and Nkwo igbo markets.

We wish it will advance to daily market in no distance future, which will augment development in our community.

The market spaces were initially allocated to individuals, at approximate size of 4 square feet, and the owners erected local stalls to display their goods. After market hours, they would park thrir goods home, or to nearby parking shops.

This routine petty trading continued, until the local government decided to take over the market, so that they could develop the shops to lock up stalls, and also to generate revenues for the development of the local government.

The entire public were called to subscribe and pay for spaces, and a uniform plan given for construction of clusters, containing 8 shops, upstairs and downstairs.
The successful applicants, have been allocated spaces and some of them have already developed their own.

Recently , the local government has come back to demolishsome previously allocated shops to some peoplewho had developed their spaces to downstair lockup shops, over 2 decades ago.

The local government wants these old shops to be uniform,with the newly constructed modern upstair shops, which is good, but the pressure on the owners, to demolish them, without financial plans/ unavailability of funds to reconstruct it, is a high blood pressure problem.

The local government also intends to reduce each shop space to two and half shops, while one shop, carved out from that 2.5 shops, is given back to the owner.

It is disheartening that some of those shops have been demolished and the owners could not rebuild them due to financial constraints, while weeds are growing on the shops presently.

There is a threat to recover the shops from them and realocate the shops spaces to new applicants, who could pay the local government a certain amount and rebuild for themselves, while the original owners would loose out.

We are using this medium as concerned indigenes, to appeal to the local government chairman and Hon.Ebele Ejiofor , to look in to the mater, and stop the local government officials, from further demolition, in consideration of the poor owners, who would loose their shops because they dont have money to rebuild for now.

Secondly, the owners should be given the privilege of retention of their ownership, and pay low tenement rent to the local government.

Finally they should be allowed to still own their original shop spaces, rather than diminishing each shop, to 2.5 times smaller,.

They should also give *them enough time fame to upgrade their shops to modern upstairs , in uniformity to others.

Thanks in anticipation to your contributions and emotionally reaching out to both the local government Chairman and our Anaocha 1 representative, in the Anambra state, house of assembly, to use their good offices to handle the matter, without depriving the government of their revenues, or the owners of their livelihood.