Traders to Wike: Scrap Mile 1 market mgt c’ttee, get our 2019 support

PORT HARCOURT —TRADERS at Phase 2 Mile1 Rumuwoji Market, Port Harcourt, Rivers State have urged Governor Nyesom Wike to scrap the market’s management committee to guarantee their support for his second term ambition.

Chairman of the market’s Shop Owners Association, Chief Young Georgewill, who made the appeal, yesterday, in Port Harcourt further asked the governor to tackle lingering leadership tussle over the market and ensure affordable allocation of shops to original owners as the market undergoes reconstruction.

Our cost of transaction, fees, attractive — SEC boss

The shop owners appeal follows the governor’s promise to get the Phase 2 Mile1 Market reconstruction project ready by January next year.

Georgewill said: “We want the management committee appointed during Governor Rotimi Amaechi’s tenure to discontinue because they are doing more harm than good since inception in 2013. They disorganised the structures of the market and made the traders slaves.

“The committee members collect and cart away huge sums without paying a dime to the Port Harcourt City Council treasury. yet they receive their monthly allowances from the council chairman who appointed the committee.”

Among other needs, the traders called for a dedicated car park for the over 2054 existing shop owners in the expected new market while also calling for a harmonised revenue collect against the prevailing multiple fees and levies through state and the council.