By Chimaobi Nwaiwu

Nnewi—Traders of Marine Modern Market, Onitsha, Anambra State, have appealed to Governor Willie Obiano to settle amicably the ownership crisis at market, which has retarded its growth and structural development.

They expressed fears that the continued court case over the ownership of the market by some people in the state was retarding the growth and structural development of the market and have therefore, appealed to Governor Obiano to intervene to settle crisis amicably.

The traders who spoke through their Chairman Chief Vincent Ifeme said that about fifteen thousand traders are currently trading in the market and have refused to make further investment in its development and expansion thereby retarding the growth of the number of more people that would have come into the market to do business.

He said that the government is equally losing huge amount of money it would have collected from the traders if there is no ownership crisis in the market adding that with the threat to the existence of the market, the state also stands threatened security wise if the traders are thrown out of the market by those claiming ownership.

“In as much as we are not supporting or against any of the parties to the ownership crisis in the market, we are calling for peace, we want Governor Obiano to intervene to ensure there is peace so that the traders will develop the market like other markets in the state, nobody will like to invest his money in what he is not sure of, a lot of families welfare are dependent in that market, some old men and women who are retired from active business have been expressing fears that their investments in shops are threatened,” he said.