Abuja waits endlessly for international market

According to many shoppers, rest rooms in the markets, especially Wuse market, have been centralised “instead of them to be evenly spread within the market and they’re poor” said Debbie Mangut, a shopper who has travelled widely across the world. She added that when you are talking about markets in the world that are befitting […]

According to many shoppers, rest rooms in the markets, especially Wuse market, have been centralised “instead of them to be evenly spread within the market and they’re poor” said Debbie Mangut, a shopper who has travelled widely across the world. She added that when you are talking about markets in the world that are befitting of a capital city, “certainly you cannot find one in Abuja.”

Another shop owner in Wuse market said one area that he is worried about is that of sanitation. According to him, both shop owners and shoppers are in the habit of littering everywhere with their garbage, especially “with plastics from either water or soft drinks” and empty packages of all kinds are scattered everywhere in the market without enough “garbage collectors picking them on the spot like what I saw in China,” said Nathaniel Obinna.

However, many residents applauded Wuse market, saying that it has “a fairly world-class standard considering the accessibility of the interconnecting unit-to-unit retail shops. There are neat driveways, walkways and spacious car parks within the market make the place world class,” said an Italian shopper who was at the market to shop with her two children.

According to her, a couple of years back, she could not dare visit the market with her children, “but lately, the market is now free of congestion and touts”, she said.

Why did the Abuja Markets Management Limited single out Wuse market leaving the rest to trail behind? A visit to some markets within the FCT such as Kado, Gudu and Garki markets revealed that the level of infrastructural decay in those places when compared to Wuse market that is even faulted by many people “mocks at the capital city of the most populous country in Africa,” said Umaru Tela, an Abuja-based businessman.

However, Alhaji Abubakar Faruk, the managing director of Abuja Markets Management Limited, said, “Talking about markets in Abuja meeting international standard, it is good to hear that people think that Wuse market meets the standard to a large extent, but let me quickly say that our standard does not change from one market to the other. People’s attention on Wuse market has a lot to do with its long period of existence as well as its central location. That does not take away from other markets that have their own good features,” said the MD.

These functions, to him, entail the provision of security in all of these markets, cleaning of the environment and evacuation of garbage, parking management, provision of maintenance services and repair of mechanical and electrical installations, provision of fire drills and maintenance of fire-fighting equipment and lots more.

He was however quick to note that the company has been in the process of turning around the fortunes of Garki Model Market by the recent rehabilitation and reconstruction work going on in the market, though he admitted that Garki Model Market is yet to assume the status of Wuse market in terms of infrastructure. This he blamed on the parking areas in the market where the lanes lack tar, a project he assured will soon be carried out.

It would be recalled that Garki Model Market was closed down in June 2009 by the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) due to its poor sanitary condition and the unsafe features of the structures hitherto used as trading places.

Speaking on this, the MD said, “When you talk of Garki Model Market, I’m sure you’re referring to the pre-closure Garki Model Market with its volume of refuse, reptiles, stench, marshy environment, collapse of infrastructure, chaotic trading arrangement, overall unpleasant scene of the entire environment, but just go back to the place and see what the FCTA has been able to achieve.

“The drainage system which was non-existent has been constructed, the entrance road to the market which has given way is now reconstructed and asphalted, work is currently going on, on the perimeter fence,  and more importantly, the petty traders now have safer and more befitting structures and environment for their businesses,” he explained.

But a trader in Garki market, Johnson Uche, who acknowledged all the efforts by the market management especially in Garki Model Market, expressed some reservations on the capacity of some of the markets in the FCT to be self-sustaining.

Narrowing down on Garki Market, Uche said, “My understanding is that AMML is supposed to be a profit and self-reliant company after government must have invested heavily in infrastructure in the markets within the FCT. But what we have today is that the company was given the full responsibilities of the markets when there is a lot to be done in terms of development and the revenue generated so far cannot provide some of the infrastructure needed in these markets”.

He further stressed that government should do something about this before the markets management will ask them to pay for the funding of some of the capital expenditures. And if that happens, “we will not fold our hands. Of course, we will pass it on to the final consumer…simple!”

Speaking on its challenges in providing world-class services in FCT markets, Faruk noted thus: “To provide these services requires that somebody has to pay for them. Before now, it was hectic collecting service charges from traders. We are happy that all the traders in the various markets are appreciating the values we add to the market, but we still experience some delays from some of the traders in the payment of these service charges. However, some markets have been paying the same service charge for the past four years and are therefore no longer in tune with the present realities,” he said.

The management of AMML prayed for any kind of intervention from government to boost the desire of the company to make FCT markets meet the best of standards that prevail in developed countries, especially in the provision of physical infrastructure that requires enormous funding, though the company said it is mindful of the dwindling revenue situation of government which necessitated the set-up of companies like theirs in the first place for sustainable management of its markets.

“I don’t see the possibility of the AMML providing a world-class market anytime soon apart from the noise they make every day, especially when a lot in terms of infrastructure and space is lacking in the markets. Either one of the government or the company must provide these first before embarking on any other thing,” said Uche.

“It is a bit of a challenge to live up to the expectations of residents and visitors to the Federal Capital Territory, as a leading market management company in the country to deliver a shopping environment of international standard in the face of the dilapidated nature of infrastructure of some of these markets with the attendant need for huge financial intervention,” Faruk concluded.