The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), on Monday, threatened to shit down Utako market poor sanitation to avert the epidemic.
According to reports, the Utako market was said to be one of the largest markets located in the Utako district, within Abuja’s city centre, and is being managed by the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).
Mukhtar Galadima, the Director, Department of Development Control, said the discovery of the deteriorated sanitation situation in Utako Market was disturbing, adding that the market had become a “time bomb and disaster waiting to happen”.
He also said that there was an urgent need to clean up the market and ensure that disaster and epidemic were averted while expressing displeasure that such a market located within the heart of the city could be allowed by its managers to degenerate into a place where both human and environmental safety was compromised.
While he said that an urgent meeting would be convened with all stakeholders in the market, he insisted that proactive measures must be taken.
On his part, the Secretary of FCTA’s Command and Control, Peter Olumuji, said apart from the nuisances in the area, residents around the neighbourhood had also complained of security threats from the market.
Olumuji equally disclosed that the market had been overtaken by idle youths and suspected hard drug addicts.
While he said that no suspect was arrested, he noted that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) had been briefed to pay close attention to the market area to curb illicit drug peddling activities.