Yam Traders Return To Iriebe Market

Business  activities  at the Yam Zone  Market,  Iriebe  in Obio/Akpor  Local Government Area of Rivers State have resumed after the clash  between  members of the proscribed Indeginous  People of Biafra (IPOB) and the  Hausa Community in the  area.
The market, which is  located  at the  boundary  between  Obio/Akpor and Oyigbo Local Government  Area, was the centre of the clash where many of the  traders lost goods and property  worth thousands of naira.
Some traders, however lamented  that  trading activities were at their lowest  ebb inspite  of the heavy presence  of security personnel  in the market and attributed  the development to the exit of Hausa  traders who were the target of the clash.
Secretary to the Yam Zone Market Traders Union,  Mr. Godffery Mike said,  “there are no buyers even though everywhere  is calm.
“People are still afraid to come out to the market   inspite of the deployment  of security agents to the market. Our  members who were trapped  at Aba and other  places are  all returning gradually now  and we expect things to normalise in the days ahead”.
Mike, thanked Governor Nyesom Wike  for the steps he took towards stalling the situation and sued for  peaceful  co-existence  in the area.
In a related development, traders at the oil  mill  market, in Rumukurushi, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area, have cried out against the multiple  levies  imposed on them  by the owners of the market.
A dealer in second hand  clothes, popularly called “Okrika wake-up”, Mr Chidi Madumere, lamented that they are  levied heavily on a daily  basis and explained that the situation was making  savings impossible for them while buyers also complain about the  intermittent increase in prices of commodities and appealed for a drastic  step  to be taken to stop the heavy levies imposed on the traders, since the buyers are the  one who bear the brunt of the levies.

Tonye Nria-Dappa