The Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has promised to renovate the New Layout Market that was razed by fire on Tuesday.
Amaechi, who made the promise when he went on an assessment visit to the market on Thursday, also pledged to give financial assistance to those whose goods were affected by the inferno to enable them to get back to business.
He explained that the Commissioner for Commerce would take down the names of those affected by the incident with a view to rendering financial assistance to them so that they could replace their lost goods.
“We will send the Commissioner for Special Duties and Commissioner for Commerce to get us the names of those whose goods were destroyed and government will give you some assistance to replace your goods. Government will also rebuilt these shops the way they were,” the governor said.
Amaechi pointed out that although the stalls were not to be used as lock-up shops, traders at the market used them as lock-up stores and kept in woods and other inflammable materials in them.
He promised to get a private firm to manage and run the market.
The governor said, “When we built these stores, we did not ask you to do these ones as lock-up. We built it as open stores. The essence is when you finish, you carry your goods home.
“Now, anybody who had this is supposed to only have an open space where he or she will sell and take his or her wares back home, the next day, you come back, so I don’t see why you put all those woods.
“It is those woods that must have led to this fire and one man’s wood has now burnt everybody’s property. You now agree that you cannot manage your market, both you and local government. So, I will come in. I will appoint a company that will manage this market.
“They will tax you every month. It’s simple because let me tell you why, no water here, I put water here before. I put water, now no water because you allow thieves to come here and vandalise it.
“I put a generator here. I put water hose for fire, all of them have been vandalised. So, you are not managing well. We will get a company that will manage here, replace all those things and you people will pay small money to them for the running of the market. I need your votes but I also need you to run things properly.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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