As part of activities to mark two years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, acting President Yemi Osinbajo yesterday visited the Garki market in Abuja.
The acting president who was accompanied by the Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar and some other senior presidential aides
arrived the market at about 3:10pm and interacted with the traders for about 40 minutes before leaving.
Traders and shoppers who were visibly happy and surprised to see the acting president followed him as he moved round the market.
Osinbajo interacted withsome of the traders who complained about high cost of renting shops as well as high cost of buying their wares, ranging from fish, onions and rice.
One of the traders, a fish seller, sought government’s intervention to reduce the cost of shops which was put at N250,000 per annum.
The fish seller also decried the high cost of smoked fish and imported fish.
Another trader, Alhaji Nasiru Maiyaki Kuryfi, a rice seller, lamented that the market management had not been able to complete the shops they paid for long ago, even as he decried inadequate storage space in the market.
Responding, the acting president promised to talk to the market management about the high cost of rent, even as he also encouraged the traders and all other Nigerians to go into farming, saying “the more we farm, the cost of products will come down”.
He further appealed with the traders not to increase the prices of their wares during the Ramadan.
Speaking to State House correspondents at the end of the visit, the senior special on assistant media to the acting president, Mr. Laolu Akande, said the surprise visit to the market was part of activities to mark the second anniversary of the administration.
“He wanted to feel the pulse of Nigerians and hear directly from the people and have one on one with them and assure them that the administration was committed to improving the economy and ensure life gets better for them”, Akande said.
Source: leadership.ng
