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From Okey Sampson, Umuahia
After dilly-dallying for a long time, the popular Waterside, Aba abattoir/cattle market and the proximal Ahia Udele market in Abia State, where humans and vultures have for years competed for space, has been brought down by Abia State government’s bulldozers.
In Igbo, ‘Udele’ means vulture, and the market, Ahia Udele, derived its name from the army of vultures that converge on the market daily in search of food from remnants of slaughtered cattle.
Besides the menace of the unfriendly birds, there was the twin problem of health hazards, and security/safety of residents. The stench that emanated from the cattle market and abattoir was enough to cause an epidemic. There was also the menace of criminal elements who hid under the cover of the market and its numerous shanties to commit all forms of crimes.
In no modern city have cows pranced the city-centre with the corresponding nuisance as in Aba, on account of the cattle market. In fact, the market was an unpleasant omen, in sharp contrast with what a commercial city should look like.
It was all these put together that made government to bring up the idea of relocating the market to Omumauzor, a more appropriate location, on the outskirts of the city, in Ukwa West Local Government Area (LGA). Five years ago, the Ministry of Trade and Investment was mandated to ensure a seamless relocation.
However, when it appeared the ministry was set to commence implementation of the directive, agitations reared their heads from the area.
Surprisingly, while Governor Okezie Ikpeazu was away on health grounds at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the deputy chief of staff, Office of the Deputy Governor, Chief Don Ubani, was said to have led a delegation of people from Ukwa West (where he hails from), to meet the Deputy Governor, Ude Oko Chukwu, at Government House, Umuahia.
Their mission was to get clarity on the planned siting of the cattle market in their LGA, as everyone there believed the much-maligned RUGA cattle colony was the real intention.
Later, Ubani made a statement where he described the planned project as dead on arrival, saying that the state government would never contemplate siting anything in Asaland that could be insidious to the people of the area.
Dummies were sent to the locals that government’s decision amounted to RUGA. This led some women in the area to protest, saying they had no land for such a project in Asa. And for two years, the move was stalled.
Nevertheless, on February 3, something drastic happened that made the relocation not only inevitable but, at the same time, with immediate effect. An auto accident that happened at Ahia Udele, around 9am on the fateful day, left many dead.
Government came down with its hammer. It mustered the will to enforce the relocation.
A statement by the Commissioner for Trade and Investment, John Okiyi-Kalu, said it all: “Following the sad incident of a loaded trailer losing control and falling into the abattoir, Ikpeazu has directed the immediate closure of the abattoir/cattle market and the proximal Ahia Udele market.
“All those currently doing business in the above markets/abattoir should immediately relocate to the New Omuma Uzor Abattoir in Ukwa West and Good Morning Market, Aba, for those currently in Ahia Udele.
“While we mourn with those who lost loved ones in the accident, it is important to state that the Ministry of Trade and Investment had long commenced processes to relocate the markets in line with public health advice received from the Ministry of Environment and other relevant agencies.
“This gave rise to the acceleration of processes for the completion of the new abattoir, which should be ready later this month.
“The ministry wishes to appeal to those concerned to ensure full compliance with the directive to relocate without delay, while we assure them that the ministry will do everything possible to ensure that they are properly settled to continue doing their businesses within a safer and healthier environment.”
Okiyi-Kalu later met with the traders of the affected markets to deliver the message of the state government.
The commissioner equally informed the traders that the closure was aimed at safeguarding life and preservation of public health.
He said: “It would be irresponsible of this government to sit idly and watch the people and their and livelihoods being threatened daily by the hazards of doing business in and around the closed markets.
“We feel your pains and understand the circumstances that led to the market springing up there but we will have no excuse whatsoever to give to posterity if we fail to do the needful immediately.”
Okiyi-Kalu made it clear that the governor had directed the executives of Good Morning Market in Aba to allow displaced traders from Ahia Udele to take up vacant shops in the market without demanding rent from them for at least three months, to make them settle with ease.
On the movement of the cattle market to the Omumauzor facility, the commissioner assured the traders that the ministry was already grading the road to the location to make access easy.
“The new abattoir is an ultra-modern facility with water, multiple slaughter slabs and other provisions that will make life easier for our people,” he said.
He stated that government would clear the closed abattoir, fumigate it and also dredge the area where the market was previously located.
In less than 12 hours after the meeting, bulldozers moved in and, before sunrise the following day, all the structures in the two markets were flattened.
Government’s plan, according to Okiyi-Kalu, was that the cattle market should be moved to Omumauzo, where a range was provided to avoid cattle straying to farmlands. He said it would also decongest the present site and even boost economic activities in its new location, since the place was in-between Aba and Port Harcourt.
Various union leaders in the markets including Ogbodo Alex, chairman, Waterside Butchers’ Association; Emeka Oko Torti, chairman, Abia State Amalgamated Cattle Dealers; Obodoeze Peter Obi, chairman, Riverside Butchers’ Association, Aba, and Alhaji Musa Iheakaram, grand patron of Aba cattle dealers, commended the government for the intervention.
But they appealed to the government to prevail on all butchers in city to relocate to Omumauzo.
