By Eric Ugbor

TRADERS  at the Ngwa  Road Market in Aba, Abia State, (Ahia ohuru), have lamented the deplorable state of the road and appealed to the state government to  urgently  rehabilitate the road to save the traders from untold sufferings and hardship.

The traders who spoke to South-East Voice in Aba regretted that several promises by the state government to reconstruct the road has failed as the traders continue to suffer every rainy season with water overtaking the road that leads into the market.

The worst spot on the road is the Ohanku Road junction where thousands of traders and other residents have continued to suffer during rainy ing season into almost the end of the dry season each year hindering a lot of commercial activities.

Traders display their products and wares on top of water logs and still pay daily levies to alleged agents of the state government while the road is completely blocked.

Chief Nwankwo Nnodim a distributor of drinks and other beverages whose shop is located along the Ngwa road market regretted that despite the huge resources generated from the market that the state government has failed to reconstruct the road for over years.

He said “every successive government had always made palliative efforts to reconstruct the road but none has concretely undertaken this task to permanently solve this perennial hardship along this road”

Chief Nwodim who has been trading under this deplorable road for the past few years said, “where shall we run to, which market is free from the deplorable state of the roads in Aba. So where do we run to but all we are saying is that the state government should help the traders by permanently fixing this road, look at ohanku road and other roads that link  into this market all of them are blocked due to this road”.

Mrs philomina  Nwaigwe  a highly famous distributor on women hair weavon also appealed to  the state government to judiciously utilize the levies being generated in the market by reconstructing the road stating that a lot of money is being generated in the various markets in Aba which are enough  to fix the roads that lead into these various markets.

She said “we have big markets here in Aba which  are being patronized from across the country and beyond  but one of the major challenges hindering the commercial  activities in this commercial city  is bad roads”.

She said “ some of the markets  in Aba can only have relief during the dry seasons but we suffer heavy losses because the water logs on the roads like Ngwa road over laps into the end of almost every dry season so there is no way out for the people”.

For Mr Okechukwu Onyekere a commercial bus driver and many other residents who do business along the Ngwa road which is one of the most populated areas of Aba, the inability of the state government to repair the roads will remain a nightmare and decline in commercial activities in the market.