Traders in Onitsha have suffered losses as a result of security forces closing six significant local markets for over two weeks.
Pecohub Learnt that Nigerian security operatives had taken over the markets and locked up every shop under the guise of clamping down on fake and expired drugs dealers.
The affected markets, Pecohub confirmed, include Onitsha Drug market, Oduwani (Power Tools and Allied) market, Surgical Line market, Plumbing Materials market, the Ogbogwu Fashion Line market, the Bridgehead Provision market and part of the Timber Dealers market.
The development came after the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, was said to have contacted the military personnel for its recent operation against drug dealers.
Some of the traders at the Head Bridge market, who spoke to Pecohub, expressed their frustrations that government agencies have refused to allow lawful businesses to resume.
They also frowned at the approach adopted by NAFDAC in fighting against drug counterfeiting, lamenting the negative impacts the closure of the market has had on them.
One of the traders, who identified himself as Micheal Okoh, said he was not finding it easy any longer.
According to him, no time was given to them to prepare for the current situation. The trader expressed support for the government’s effort in curbing the flow of illicit drugs. He, however, said the exercise should be done with urgency to allow them return to the market.