The Mayor of Port Harcourt, Honourable Ezebunwo Ichemati, has declared every Tuesday levy free for Mile 3 traders in Port Harcourt.
The Mayor made the declaration at the market, on Friday evening, while addressing the Chairman of the Market, Mr Nkesi Benjamin, and the throng of excited traders who welcomed him.
“Every Tuesday is now a levy free day for traders in this market. Don’t give one naira to anybody who comes to you for the usual levy you pay to the council. Those who collect the levy should not come to the market on Tuesdays; they should stay at home. The every Tuesday free levy is not just for those of you that are here but for all the traders,” the Mayor instructed.
Addressing the issue of reconstruction of the market as appealed by Mr Nkesi in his welcome address, the Mayor said it was a huge project that the council cannot embark on.
“You all know that I cannot tell you that I will do something and end up not doing it. Truly, this place needs a holistic reconstruction but it is not a project that we can carry; I will make an earnest appeal to our father, the governor to come and help us, the smaller challenges you are having, I will set up a committee to liaise with those supervising you to look into the issues, report back to me to work out the modalities to address them,” the Mayor assured.
Honourable Ichemati promised the traders that he would among other policies his admininatration would introduce in the management of the market bring about a welfare policy to cater to some needs of the traders.
“This administration I am leading won’t be all about collecting levies from you, but we will come up with a policy where we will from the levies we collect from you give support and assistance to any of you in a dire need of support or assistance.”
He called on the traders of the LGA owned market to continue to trade peacefully and amicably, while soliciting for their support for Governor Fubara saying, “he is the one that has made Port Harcourt to have the youngest Mayor of Port Harcourt through the credible election he overseed even without the police providing security, there was no violence. He is a father who wants the best for the youths and everyone in the state so he deserves all of the support we can give to him”
