•Traders count losses as windstorm destroys building materials market, Abakaliki
From Wilson Okereke, Afikpo
The storm, which came with the heavy rainfall experienced in many parts of Ebonyi State on May 26, spread sorrow in several homes in the state as it reportedly destroyed goods worth of millions of naira at the Building Materials Market in Abakaliki, the state capital.
President, Integrated Building Materials, Ebonyi State, Chief Fidelis Onwe, said this was not the first time such a disaster would befall his colleagues since they relocated to their current place of business.
Onwe, who appealed for government’s intervention over the most recent incident, said that it affected a great number of their members whose goods were damaged: “This is the fourth experience since we were forced out of our former market and, apart from this particular one caused by the wind, flood had destroyed our goods in the past.”
According to him, as soon as he received a distress call around 1:00 a.m., he rushed to the market only to get there and discover that a large quantity of goods and shops were damaged by the wind.
He claimed that the place was haphazardly built, lamenting that customers hardly access their goods as the premises was usually flooded during rainy periods.
The market leader, who also complained over other related factors, called for the immediate construction of internal roads in the premises: “We want the government to come and construct channels, give us approval for tree planting and make the place conducive to forestall future occurrences.”
Another victim, Sampson Nweke, described the problem as the greatest havoc in the history of their business in the area and appealed for the standardization of the market environmentally and otherwise: “This is the worst of the disasters since I came into the market because of the damage. Trailerloads of white cement and other items valued at more than N1 billion have been destroyed.
“The only way for us to come back to the market is through government intervention, otherwise, many of us will go home from now as a result of the misfortune.”
Nweke, who estimated that his goods worth over N50 million were destroyed, attributed the problem to lack of proper planning of the market, especially the arrangement of shops.
Other victims, Mr. Basil Nnamdi Nwibo, Mrs. Ezinne Solomon and Vitalis Edeh Ekekwe, alleged that they left the former market unprepared, and appealed for government assistance to enable them offset the debts associated in the business and other requirements.