Swali market: Bayelsa begins demolition of illegal structures to enforce social distance

Bayelsa state government on Sunday began demolition of illegal structures in the crowded stalls in the popular Swali Market in Yenagoa, the state capital to enforce the compliance of social distance.

This is one the preventative ways the government is adopting to curtail the spread of the virus.

Swali ultramodern market is the biggest in the state, and most traders over the years abandoned some stalls built by the state government inside the market to patronize the illegal structures on the road side.

The chairman of implementation committee of the Bayelsa state task force on COVID-19, Dr Inodu Apoku, who supervised the demolition, said traders crowding the roadside does not give room for the required social distancing protocol.

Apoku, who is also the permanent secretary in the state Ministry of Health, said that government have already fumigated over 600 stalls inside the market for the traders to do their businesses in the spacious environment.

He disclosed that the exercise will get to all markets in the state to ensure that traders and buyers are safe from coronavirus.

He said: “This roadside trading is not decent enough, especially with the health challenge we have at the moment, government have already fumigated over 600 stall inside the market for traders to use, so that their safety will be guaranteed.

“They can never observe social distance in this roadside, so both the traders and buyers are in danger here, that is why we take this action as a government to prevent spread of coronavirus in Bayelsa state.

“Social distance is the World Health Organisation (WHO) protocol, and we must obey it to stay safe, beyond watching of hands, using of sanitizers, social distance must be observed. It is for interest of everybody.

The technical assistant to Bayelsa state governor on urban security, Buma Sparrow-Jack, said the state government have made provision to deploy security personnel to the market to forestall reemergence of street trading around the market.

The chairman of Swali ultramodern market, Jackson Bobra, commended the action.