ACTING President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Friday, undertook a surprise visit to Garki market in Abuja.
He was there to interact with traders and ordinary Nigerians to have a first hand knowledge of their feelings.
The visit was planned as part of his activities to mark the second year anniversary of the present administration.
It was the first time such a visit to a market would be taking place.
Accompanied by Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar, and other senior presidential aides, he arrived at the market at about 3:10 p.m and was greeted warmly by enthusiastic crowds.
He spent 40 minutes interacting with traders, with many of them complaining about the high cost of items in the market.
The traders were particularly unhappy about the prohibitive cost of renting shops and wanted government’s intervention to bring it down.
Speaking to the Acting President, Alhaji Nasiru Maiyaki Kurfi, who sells rice in the market, complained about lack of space to display wares as the management of the market had been unable to follow through on its promise to build more stalls.
Osinbajo however, promised to engage with the market management to ameliorate to discomfort of the traders.
He encouraged the traders to bring down the cost of their items as he noted that, “the more we farm the cost of products will come down.”
Explaining the rationale of the market visit to State House correspondents, Osinbajo’s spokesman’s Laolu Akande, said the visit to the market was part of activities to mark the second anniversary of the administration.
He added: “He (Osinbajo) wanted to feel the pulse of Nigerians and hear directly from the people and have one on one with them and assure them that the administration was committed to improve if  the economy and ensure life gets better for them.”
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