After 15 years of negotiation on how to move to a more befitting permanent site, the Kenyatta building materials market located along Kenyatta Street in Uwani area of Enugu South LGA of Enugu has been demolished by the Enugu Capital Territory Development Authority (ECTDA) on Thursday.
The market was built on Kenyatta Street, thereby giving it the name.
However, because of the traffic problems caused by shoppers and sellers along the road, successive governments have tried to relocate the market.
The permanent site for the market located at Ugwuaji, along the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway, has for three years been functional with most of the traders conducting transactions there but many of the traders remained adamant till Thursday.
The bulldozers used for the demolition arrived early in the morning before traders arrived at the market and were forced to evacuate their goods chaotically, which they scattered along all the streets in Uwani with most of them confused about what to do.
Speaking at the scene of the demolition, the Chairman of ECTDA, Denge Josef Onoh, blamed the leaders of the market for their inability to convince the traders to vacate the street market and move to the better-planned permanent site of the market.
Onoh said that the exercise was a development control measure due to the congestion in the city.
He also noted that the area where the traders converted into a market was originally a place given to the National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN), for youth capacity development and recreation. But the youth council turned it into a building materials market in the heart of the city centre.
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“As way back as 2003, a site was obtained and designated as the Enugu South International Market, and the successive state administrations failed to relocate the traders to that site in Ugwuaji. It not only hurts the economy of the state but also affects the development and growth of the city.
“So, we now have an overpopulated area which has contravened every single aspect of the town planning development; and we have given them so much time to relocate to the site.
“On January 6, 2000, we came for enforcement and we moved a portion of the traders, but some said they didn’t have shops.
“The Youth Council was given this allocation in the 1960s. But it has abused the purpose clause for which it was given to them. It was given to them for youth development and recreational activities, but as you can see, there is no recreation here.
“In 1989, they applied for adjustment, an amendment in the purpose clause which said commercial. But the commercial activity was supposed to be for the benefit of the council, such as a conference hall, which they didn’t do, but embarked on the sale of every single part of the land, thereby abusing the purpose clause for which this land was demised,” Onoh said.
Chinweuba Igwesi, chairman of the Kenyetta Market Traders Association, said there had been several relocation notices that some traders in the market failed to comply with. He expressed sadness that the relocation lingered.
“We advised them. Some heeded it, but others did not. Spaces for shops were given at discounted rates then, but many of them did not take it seriously. Some moved to that place but after some time without government enforcement, they came back,” Igwesi said.
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