CODIV-19 PANDEMIC: See A Council Chairman Having Tough Time to Enforce the Closure of Weekly Market

It is evident that Nigerians have started going through a difficult time as a result of the coronavirus pandemic as governors announced lockdown in their states asking students to stay at home and major weekly markets shut, ordering the closure of shops except those offering essential services like medicine stores and food as measures rolled out to help contain the virus.

The greatest challenge is keeping people at home in a country where many citizens earn incomes from daily activities as many get their daily living from the streets.

A study case is the Ilesa Sabo/Irojo market that is mainly a foodstuffs market where people from far and near assemble every Monday. Various agricultural products such as gaari, palm oil, kola nuts, plantains, bananas and so on are brought from Ijesa hinterland and the Hausa community where the market derived its name also bring in commodities such as rice, beans, onions, groundnuts etc from as far as Zamfara, Sokoto, Bauchi and Kaduna states, to mention just a few.

With the fear that there is no stimulus package from the government to cushion the effect of the stay-at-home order, on Sunday 29th March, 2020 there were indications that the Monday market will hold as market men and women have started arranging their merchandise in preparation for the next day and this called for urgent action from the Ilesa East Local Government administration where the weekly market is located.

 So, the Chairman, Hon. Akeem Adesoji Olowoopejobori, the Council Manager, the parliamentarians and security operatives led by the Divisional Police Officer of Ijamo Police Station Mr. Olugbenga Adeboye swung into another round of sensitization to forestall the Monday market from holding and it was an hectic experience.

At the end of end of a meeting held with the Iyaloja, Babaloja and the representative of the Hausa traders, it was agreed that this Monday market will not hold but they appealed to the government to fast-track a stimulus package that will allow families that rely on daily income from the streets and/or in the market to survive the stay-at-home period concluding with the Yoruba proverb " eni to ba so ewure mole, lo maa bo" meaning it is the person that tied down a goat that will feed.

Photos: (All photos that appear here were shot on Sunday 29th March, 2020 by Ogbeni Oladimeji Lasore)