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Jeff Amechi Agbodo, Onitsha
With new leaders installed to manage the affairs of the facility, peace seems to have returned to the once crisis-riddled Ogbogwu (Drugs) International Market, Bridgehead, Onitsha, Anambra State.
The new leadership has also announced that there will be no sacred cows in the fight against fake drugs as well as adulterated and unwholesome products in the market.
Commissioner for Trade and Commerce, Anambra State, Chief Uchenna Okafor, had recently constituted a 57-man caretaker committee to pilot the affairs of the market. The inauguration of the new leadership has since halted the crisis that has rocked the market in recent times.
At the moment, peace has returned to the biggest drug market in the South-East, following the inauguration and presentation of the leaders to the traders during their monthly prayers at the market.
The new chairman, Mr. Donatus Ajamma, while addressing the traders, commended the Commissioner for Trade and Commerce, Chief Okafor, for bringing all factions together to ensure the return of peace to the market.
The chairman has also dissolved all the unions and task forces in the market except the Task Force on COVID-19. He advised the traders to willingly submit to his office all the expired and fake products in their possession, saying such products would be taken to the authorities of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) for destruction. He commended some traders who he said had started surrendering such products.
Ajamma said his leadership would not tolerate any unwholesome, adulterated products or fake drugs in the market, warning that anybody caught in such act would be handed over to the security operatives and NAFDAC for prosecution.
“We have come to bring lasting peace in the market. We should try and forgive those who offended us in the past in order to move the market forward. As you can see Ogbogwu is calm and peaceful now because all the factions have been brought together to move the market forward.
“After the grace period, when we have settled down for business, any trader found with expired or fake drugs and unwholesome or adulterated products would be handed over to the security operatives.
“We are one now in this market and there is no more factions because we are working as one team to make Ogbogwu a better place to do business. We are going to bring together the Market Prayer and Evangelism group.”
Ajamma said among the major markets in Onitsha, the drug market remains the best in keeping to rules and regulations especially in observing the COVID-19 protocols.
He also spoke on his agenda. “The first is to restore peace in the market. We want to bring back those our brothers, sisters and customers who do not come to the market again.
“We want our customers who come from different states and nations to start coming here again, because peace has been restored.
“I advise members of this leadership who might want to be involved in dealing in crime or fake products to have a rethink, because I will not condone such act. My administration will have zero tolerance for any criminal act. We should be dealing in genuine products.”
The organising secretary, Mr. Kenechukwu Anagor commended the Commissioner for Trade and Commerce for his wisdom in tackling the leadership crisis in the market by bringing everybody together to restore peace.
“We are going to work as a team to move the market forward. This market is known for its essential commodity, to save lives and not to kill or destroy lives. That is why this market is sensitive. So, we are going to make sure that genuine drugs are being sold in this market,” he said.
Mr. Uchenna MaryChaplet Igboameze, assistant public relations officer who was a part of the previous administration, said the new leadership came to cement what the past leadership started.
“I discovered that there were many factions in the market and those factions wanted to rule the market at that time, but the factions have been brought together as caretaker committee members by the commissioner. He also directed that anybody in this leadership should collapse his faction into the new leadership to move the market forward.
“So, there is permanent peace in the market now due to the idea of bringing the whole factions together to form the new leadership. As you can see, we have about 57 members of this committee which means that about five or six factions were brought together to pilot the affairs of the market. The chairman, Mr. Ajamma, does not belong to any faction, and because of his neutrality everyone accepted his leadership.
The former chairman, Peace and Reconciliation Committee in the market, also the whip, Mr. Charles Onwe, described the new leadership as God-sent to salvage the market.
“My intention is to make the market to be better and that is why I was appointed an ad hoc committee chairman for peace and reconciliation in the past leadership, to bring peace to the market. I tried my best to reconcile warring factions in the market.
“My task now is to sustain that gesture to maintain peace in the market and support our new chairman in order to lift the market to enviable heights. Our new chairman is a man with a large heart and we are optimistic that his leadership will be the best,” Onwe said.
