Mr Osilamah Braimah, the Director, Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) says the board derived no joy in shutting down Garki International Market on Friday.<\/P>
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Braimah said this on Sunday in Abuja in a statement by Mrs Janet Peni, the AEPB Deputy Director of Information.<\/P>
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He explained that while the board was not happy shutting down the market, however, \u201cit will be failing in its responsibility, if the market is allowed to operate in its current deplorable condition\u201d.<\/P>
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Stating the reason for the measure, Braimah said, \u201cEnvironmental Health Officers of the Board carrying out routine monitoring activities in the market, a week ago, noticed the filthy market environment, garbage littered all over the place and bleeding sewer lines.<\/P>
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\u201cFollowing our standard protocol, we served them an abatement notice, giving them the required time allowable under law, to clean up.<\/P>
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\u201cThey ignored the notice and refused to clean up, rather the pile of garbage in the market premise grew worse.\u201d<\/P>
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The director said that AEPB simply went to court to obtain the court order to seal the market for their non compliance attitude.<\/P>
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He said that the closure was followed by the court order issued to that effect.<\/P>
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\u201cIt is indeed a sad spectacle to behold fruits and vegetables being sold in close proximity to damaged sewer lines and heaps of garbage.<\/P>
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\u201cSubsequently on Friday, over 5000 traders who thronged the modern market in order to trade, couldn\u2019t gain access into their shops as the market was sealed up.<\/P>
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\u201cThis means that every commercial activity grinds to a halt, because the situation as it is, is a recipe for an epidemic,\u201d he noted.<\/P>
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\u201dBraimah revealed that an epidemic waiting to happen promptly and decisively tackled is economically beneficial than allowing trading to go on as usual in a filthy market environment.<\/P>
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\u201cPlacing financial interests of traders above the greater public health of the general populace is indeed an expensive mistake that we cannot afford to make.<\/P>
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The director assured that once the managers of the market undertake to clean up, they will be allowed to resume trading in the market.<\/P>
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\u201cAs soon as they do the needful, we will go back to the court to obtain a court order to unseal the market for operations,\u201d he added.<\/P>
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The statement revealed that the<\/P>
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situation at Garki International Market remained the same even after a late evening meeting on Friday between AEPB, Abuja Markets Management Limited (AMML) and shop owners.<\/P>
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\u201cTraders with perishable goods were allowed to evacuate their goods so as not to incur losses.\u201d<\/P>
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Source: News Agency of Nigeria<\/P>
<\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mr Osilamah Braimah, the Director, Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) says the board derived no joy in shutting down Garki International Market on Friday.Braimah said this on Sunday in Abuja in a statement by Mrs Janet Peni, the AEPB Deputy Di…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n