By Our Correspondent <\/p>\n
As Traders of Onitsha Main market lament over the lost of their shops by the state governor,Onitsha Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ONICCIMA) has laid its weight behind Governor Chukwuma Soludo on the demolition of the market stating that the exercise was a bold and visionary step aimed at restoring the lost glory of Onitsha as the host of the largest market in West Africa.<\/p>\n
In a statement signed by its President, Chinedu Nwonu, the chamber expressed full support for the modernization project, noting that the market, widely regarded as the largest in West Africa, had long suffered from congestion, unauthorized encroachments and infrastructural decay.<\/p>\n
He president recalled that the remodeling exercise which began late February, 2026, is aimed at providing modern facilities such as adequate vehicular parking space, proper fire-fighting equipment, CCTV surveillance cameras, improved ventilation and enhanced security posts to create a safer and more convenient shopping environment.<\/p>\n
The chamber however expressed very deep concern over the hardship likely to be faced by traders and shop owners whose structures, including individual shops and plazas, that were affected by the demolition exercise. <\/p>\n
It lamented that many investors who purchased spaces in good faiffered significant financial losses, emotional distress and disruption to their livelihoods.<\/p>\n
The chamber particularly criticized past administrations for allegedly permitting the fragmentation and sale of public spaces said to be originally designated for parks, roads and open areas, thereby compounding the present crisis.<\/p>\n
While reiterating its support for the government\u2019s objective, ONICCIMA urged the Anambra State Government to institute a transparent compensation framework for genuinely affected traders, provide alternative trading spaces during the remodeling phase, and engage stakeholders in inclusive planning.<\/p>\n
It also called for free shop allocations in other markets within the zone or provide structured payment plans with a two-year moratorium to ease traders\u2019 burdens, alongside legislation to criminalize future encroachments on public market spaces.<\/p>\n
ONICCIMA further advocated full autonomy for markets to elect their leaders, in order to end what it described as the practice of appointing caretaker committees and political affiliates.<\/p>\n
It pledged its readiness to collaborate with the government and stakeholders to ensure a humane and equitable transformation process that would ultimately boost revenue and secure a prosperous future for Onitsha and Anambra State.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Our Correspondent As Traders of Onitsha Main market lament over the lost of their shops by the state governor,Onitsha Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ONICCIMA) has laid its weight behind Governor Chukwuma Soludo on the demolition of the market stating that the exercise was a bold and visionary step aimed at restoring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10574,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2459,6255,1943,3107],"class_list":["post-11747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-economy","tag-congestion","tag-encroachments","tag-infrastructural","tag-unauthorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11748,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11747\/revisions\/11748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}