Normalcy has returned to the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua expressway after days of protest by angry traders and villagers over the demolition of Gosa market by the Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC).
Military officers, police, officials of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), among others, have been deployed in the area to forestall a breakdown of law and order.
The traders on Monday made a bonfire on both sides of the road, thus preventing motorists from using the highway.
The development caused a gridlock as protesters brandished dangerous weapons like daggers, cutlass and planks.
When the Minister of the FCT, Muhammad Bello, visited the market, he insisted that all illegal markets on major FCT road corridors will be demolished.
Bello said it has been agreed that all markets on road corridors, especially the Abuja Airport road, will be relocated gradually, while that of Gosa will be immediate.
He assured that open markets in communities will still be allowed to function as it is customary to operate open markets in the territory.
The minister was on site to show the stakeholders and journalists the location of the new Gosa Market and urged the traders to move there.
He reiterated that the old market has to go because it has spilled into the road, creating nuisance and danger to road users and traders.
Bello also instructed community leaders to take ownership of the markets and provide security and enforcement so that traders do not encroach on roads further.
He also urged them to ensure that refuse is no dumped on the roads.
On behalf of the stakeholders, Chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Abdullahi Adamu Candido assured the minister that they have agreed with the community to protect the road corridors to ensure they don’t cause nuisance on the roads.
Candido was excited that the minister has given the people the much craved integration, and promised they would do everything within their power to support him.
He also assured that AMAC would not collect taxes or any kind of levy on the new market till the market stabilises in the near future.