The weekly Thursday sanitation exercise that holds in Markets and Commercial premises in Lagos State did not hold yesterday as traders were still enjoying the extended Eid-il-Fitri public holiday.
A correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) who visited major markets in the Lagos Metropolis reported that traders and consumers were busy buying and selling between the hours of 7am and 10am, the period of the exercise.
Mr Shola Gbenga, an official at the Ketu fruit Market, explained that the sanitation did not hold as the market was still observing the public holiday.
“This is holiday period so all the market officials are enjoying the sallah celebration.
“The sanitation is not happening on a large scale because of it. But you can see that some of us are still doing some cleaning, as we normally do every day.
“We always observe the 7am to 10am shut down for market sanitation every Thursday here in Ketu.
“Next Thursday, you will see us in action,’’ he said.
A corn seller, Mrs Bimbola Oseyemi , said that she took the advantage of the extended holidays to make some quick sales.
“Yes, this is Thursday and we normally should not be selling at this time, but today is still a holiday.
‘‘Before displaying our wares, we have swept this area as, we do every other day.
“Thank God for the holidays, at least, people are buying and we are doing fine,’’ she said.
At the Mile 12 Market some traders said that they just did the normal cleaning they do every morning, before displaying their wares.
Malam Garuba Shittu, a tomato seller, said that they did not observe the Thursday sanitation because of the holidays.
“The Sallah holiday is still on today, which explains why there is no sanitation.
“I did not sell yesterday. Now, l don’t want my tomatoes to go bad, which is why l came here. And people are coming to buy,’’ he said.
At the Oyingbo Market, the traders were busy selling and displaying their wares.
They gave the same reason for doing that on Thursday morning, which is usually the sanitation period.
Mr Ndubuisi Eleazu, a condiments seller, said that there was no sanitation because today is a public holiday.
“Man must wack. Holidays are for government and office workers. As the government workers are on holidays, so there is no market sanitation.
“I have been here since 6:00 a.m. and Thank God l came out early and business is good.
“The market sanitation will happen next Thursday, that is if government workers are not on holidays then we will observe it,’’ he said.
A market official at Oyingbo Market, Mr Andrew Eze, said that sanitation exercise will definitly take place next Thursday.
“We do not wait for Thursdays before keeping the market clean.
“You can see that the market has been swept this morning and sweeping is still going on.
“The only different is that on Thursdays, we do not start selling until after 10:00 a.m. because the Government dedicated the day for thorough clean up and opening of drainage systems.
“Come here next Thursday and you will see us doing just that,’’ he added.
The Federal Government announced an extension of the two-day Eid-el-Fitri holidays till Thursday on Wednesday.