COVID -19 Safety Protocols Assessment Of Eke Awka Market After One Week of Reopening

Almost two weeks after the Anambra state government issued a directive to reopen Eke-Awka Market, the market seems to have adjusted to the Covid-19 safety guidelines.

A media surveillance of the market by the Newsmen gathered that while each shop now has a bucket of water along with soaps and bottles of hand sanitizer stationed at the doorstep, both the traders, buyers and passersby have their face masks on.

Odogwublog.com reports that Eke-Awka Market is one of the major markets in Anambra State that welcome hundreds of traders from different parts of the state, some even outside of Anambra State, each day.

With the heavy influx of people who converge or pass through the ever-busy market, it makes it one of the most porous open places for the likely spread of the coronavirus disease.

While the rule of social distancing was noticeably absent, the newly-set-up Anambra State COVID-19 Task Force was on ground to ensure that defaulters, mainly those who do not have their face masks on, are apprehended.

Sir Charles Anierobi, the Chief of Staff to the Chairman of the market, Chief Jude Agumadu, said that the leadership of the market had ensured that the complaint level by both the traders and buyers remained unquestionable and in total consonance with the guidelines issued by the government.

Another leader in the market, Mr. Okwudili Okafor, noted that the closure of the market had made them more appreciative of government’s efforts to checkmating the spread of the virus in the market and across the state.

In their separate remarks, a trader in the market, Mr. Samuel Nwude and the Chairman of the COVID-19 Task Force in the market, Mr. Charles Obiekwe, said that while stringent measures had been initiated by the market leadership to ensure compliance, members of the Task Force, despite minor hitches, have been on steady gear to ensure that defaulters are made to face the law.

Recall that leaders of Eke-Awka Market along with those of other major markets in Anambra State had signed an undertaking issued by the state government to ensure that they enforce safety protocols against the spread of the deadly virus in their respective markets, with sanctions for defaults.