Entrepreneurs selling and repairing mobile phones and other telecommunication accessories at Garrison and Ogbunabali areas of Port Harcourt are lamenting low patronage of their products and services caused by the ongoing construction of flyover at Garrison.
The dealers attributed the low patronage to the difficulty in accessing their shops by customers who can no longer drive their cars to the shops.
In an interview with The Tide, the Managing Director of Obisco Trading Company at Ogbunabali, Mr Obioma Adiele said the project has brought untold hardship to their businesses.
The director noted that customers who cannot walk a long distance patronise other phone villages where they have packing space and free flow of traffic.
He however, said that “the flyover project is a laudable one and l know that the suffering would only last for two years, the durable time of the project”.
He advised his fellow dealers to always reach out to their customers, adding that “when the project is completed and commissioned, we will experience business boom again”.
A phone repairer, Alozie Kenneth told The Tide that the flyover project has brought serious inconveniences to his business.
According to him, the demolition of the shops around the Garrison area made traders lose some of their materials which they now “carry up and down”.
He however, commended the state government for what he called ‘a gigantic project’ that would help traffic at Garrison junction.
He appealed to the state Governor,  Chief Nyesom Wike to consider the traders’ suffering and include them in his empowerment agenda.
Another phone dealer who pleaded anonymity lamented that “this is the second time our businesses are suffering like this.
“The first was when the government constructed the spoil road and built a roundabout at the Garrison junction”.
He expressed dissatisfaction over what he called waste of resources, saying “they would have thought of a flyover before now and do it at once”.