BY RAYMOND OZOJI, Awka
Petty traders selling fruits, vegetables and other related items by the roadside in Awka heaved a sigh of relief as Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo commissioned 50 unit free shops known as Solution Arena built by the Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) along Club Road Awka last weekend.
The commissioning of the multi-million naira project marked the end of street trading in the capital city as some of the traders who were present at the commissioning ceremony testified that the 50 unit free shops were a laudable and commendable initiative by the Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) as it would go a long way to alleviate their sufferings as well as eradicate menace associated with trading along the roads.
Mrs. Ifeoma Nwadimma who sells vegetables, confirmed to this journalist that hawking her wares hasn't helped her but the construction of the Solution Arena by ACTDA would help her find a more permanent place where she would display her wares and get better patronage.
Nwadimma however thanked Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo for providing free shops for them, noting that the shops would have cost them fortunes to acquire, if they were not free of charge.
Another trader who identified herself as Chinyere Victoria Echefu, said Soludo has shown that his government is for the common man on the street. She also said that ACTDA has done well by chasing them away from the roadside and providing Solution Arena which she described as very befitting, very conducive and very comfortable, without any cost implications.
Also Miss Stella-Maris Ogugua who said that the shops were free of charge, explained that those chased out of the roads and now gnashing their teeth at home, have another golden opportunity to reestablish themselves with the free shops provided by the state government as veritable alternative.
Miss Ogugua also described the newly commissioned Solution Arena as very conducive, pointing out that the multi-million naira structure has conveniences for people to ease themselves when they are pressed.
Miss Ogugua who said she makes Indomie delicacies for people at Awka ward 8, observed that shops were very expensive in Awka and out of the reach of petty traders like her.
She said they resorted to makeshift compartments to do their businesses but the coming of Solution Arena, according to her, will help people like her own a shop and do her Indomie delicacy business in a more conducive manner even as she said that the new Solution Arena would help prevent incessant accidents caused by street trading.
Meanwhile Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Awka Capital Territory Development Authority (ACTDA) Hon. Osita David Onuko, said the multi-million naira Solution Arena was in line with the core mandate of the APGA government as well as in consonance with the compassionate heart of the Solution administration.
Onuko said the shops were alternatives to those that have turned the streets and walkways into trading corridors, adding that the present administration is trying to regenerate Awka capital city.
Onuko who equally noted that the Solution Arena Trading Square will be replicated in other major cities like Onitsha, Nnewi, Ekwulobia and others, maintained that the shops were free and no trader sacked from the road will pay a Kobo to own a space in the Solution Arena.
He also disclosed that more Solution Arena Trading Square will be sited in Awka so as to conveniently relocate all street traders to the arena inorder to instill the culture of orderliness in the citizenry.
Commissioning the Solution Arena, Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo said he was commissioning it as a model, saying that the project was a prototype to solving the problem of street trading in the capital city and the entire state.
Soludo stated that the model will be replicated in several other parts of the state and several other neighbourhoods to permanently solve the problem of street trading.
The governor emphasized that the accommodations at the Solution Arena is free of charge because the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) believes in the doctrine of be your brothers and sisters keeper.
The governor who also said that prospective shop owners at the Solution Arena have an obligation to always keep the arena clean, maintained that the shops were meant for the poorest of the poor to enable them leave the streets and stay in very convenient modern model shops to do their businesses.
The governor however commended the Managing Director of ACTDA Hon. Osita David Onuko and the management of ACTDA for getting the Solution Arena project done, saying that the project would be replicated in several other places to make sure that the streets were clean devoid of street trading and hawkers.