Balogun market traders seek enforcement of COVID-19 protocols

As commercial activities resume after Yuletide on Monday, some traders have called for enforcement of COVID-19 preventive measures around the Balogun market in the Lagos Trade Fair Lagos complex.

It would be recalled that the market resumption, earlier scheduled for Jan. 4, was extended to Jan. 11 by the Market Caretaker Management, which cited insecurity as the reason for the shift.

The traders were at the Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Tedi Ojo, Lagos for a Thanksgiving to God for His protection in 2020 and for His grace for 2021.

Many of them, who spoke wanted the market managers to reactivate preventive measures to curtail COVID-19 spread.

The traders, who gathered in pockets of groups after the Mass, were seen discussing the second wave of the coronavirus global pandemic as it concerned the market.

They said that the spread of the virus would be high in the market if stringent preventive measures were not put in place.

Mr Benson Akalazu, Spokesman for the group, described the second wave of the virus as a whirlwind.

Akalazu told journalists that before the closure of the market for the Christmas and New Year holidays, some deaths among the traders were recorded and this could be traced to the virus if investigations were carried out.

“Few days before the end of 2020, we lost so many people whose death, I can tell, are as a result of the pandemic.

“Even during the break, some members passed on, but fingers are pointing to the same direction, the pandemic,’’ he said.

Akalazu, therefore, charged traders in the complex to take up personal protection against the disease.

He also tasked the market managers to ensure that all the entrance to the market had non-pharmaceutical protective items.

He added that health workers should also be positioned at the entrances to the complex to enforce compliance before people entered.

Mrs. Elizabeth Okoro, a Woman Leader in the church who also trade sin the market, said the casualty and infection rates, going by the daily records from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), was alarming.

Okoro, who said that she lost someone close to her, to the virus two weeks ago, appealed to those that still have parochial attitudes toward the disease, to be cautious.

“Apart from the physical non-pharmaceutical items, the market committee should activate an enlightenment campaign against the virus.

“As you are protecting yourself, the other person should do the same; it’s a community thing.

“Regrettably, we have many unschooled persons in the market that have stereotypical views on the pandemic,’’ she told our Correspondent.

Mr Leonard Ogbonnia, Secretary of the market committee, told journalists  that efforts were in top gear to curtail further spread of the virus in the complex.

Ogbonnia, who welcome members back to the market after the break, appealed for peace in the complex.

He said that the committee would deliver on its mandate on record time.

The committee was inaugurated in December, 2020 after the expiration of the tenure of the Chief Tony Obih executive.

The committee has a mandate to manage the affairs of the market and conduct an election to bring in new executives within two months.