AMMC clears illegal 'night markets', others in Lugbe

Officials of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC) at the weekend stormed and removed makeshift structures used for open, roadside trading and vocational activities at the popular night market and major road corridors in Lugbe area of Abuja, the nation’s capital city.

Our correspondent reports that structures affected were mainly makeshift kiosks belonging to food vendors, clothing and building materials traders as well as roadside mechanics and artisans, whose activities constituted nuisance and obstruction in the area.

The clearing exercise came barely two months after the AMMC, accompanied by joint security operatives, visited and ransacked the sites, for allegedly constituting nuisance and danger to residents.

Speaking during the latest round of raids, AMMC Coordinator Umar Shuaibu, said it was to rid the city of environmental nuisance emanating from such sites, and to keep the nation’s capital city clean at all times.

Shuaibu, who led personnel of the Ministerial Joint Taskforce (MJTF), Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), Department of Development Control and security operatives on the exercise, vowed that the council would continue to do the right thing while carrying out its lawful responsibilities.

He, however, decried the attitude of the affected persons, who he said were bent on trading in unapproved and inappropriate places in the area despite heightened awareness campaign against the menace.