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Eke Awka market is the biggest market in Anambra's capital Territory, which spans five local government areas of the state. The market brims with activity to the point of congestion given the small space it occupies.      

Before the creation of the current Anambra state, the market was barely known beyond Awka's environs. The market was not different from the typical fourth-day markets of most towns in the state. But Awka as the seat of the Anambra State Government has attracted an influx of people across the country giving the market an edge over others in the adjoining communities.

 

The market is in downtown Awka. At whatever point you enter or exit the city from the old Enugu-Onitsha road, you have to pass through the market. Before the construction of the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway, most travelers made their passage through the old Enugu-Onitsha road, where the market began to expand and burst beyond the areas that surround it.

 

In the beginning, there was no Eke Awka market. But there existed Eke Nwida, where the present Dike Park is situated. It was an evening market and was later called Mammy Market by federal forces during the Nigerian Civil war. The closest to a major market that Awka had before the civil war was at Ogbugbankwa Square, where traders from neigbouring towns occasionally came to sell their farm produce. Today, the square has become vehicle loading point, which is the quickest road to Njikoka, Anaocha, Idemili LGAs, Onitsha, and towns in the Anambra South senatorial District.

 

Due to the exponential increase in population in the capital, plying the market road has become a metaphor for traffic congestion and disorderliness. Certain periods of the day make that road chaotic and a source of exasperation to motorists. If you want to beat the traffic during rush hour and in the evening, it could demand seeking alternative routes, which are few. Besides UNIZIK junction, the market serves as a point of convergence, particularly in the evening, more than any other place in the city. 

 

The market used to have a major park twelve years earlier, but most of its space was converted to stalls. Even at that, spaces available in the motor park and other areas like Our line and 6:30 Market no longer serve its purpose. This is because auto vehicle operators prefer to use the market road as a loading point. Some are stationed on the road, and others stop on the road to pick up passengers obstructing traffic and pedestrians. It could get worse as vehicles offloading goods slow down traffic. Most times, the traffic build-up could start at the abandoned Awka Township stadium axis on the Arthur Eze Avenue and from the premier Bus stop at the post office to Zik Avenue.

 

The roundabout constructed with the statue of a blacksmist near the market's first gate has done little to decongest traffic. Occasionally, officers of the Anambra Traffic Management Agency (ATMA) help to control traffic at the roundabout in the morning and are absent in the evening when traffic is heavy. Last year, a metal container, the size of a 14-seater Toyota bus fell from an articulated vehicle conveying it at the Eke Awka Roundabout. Reports had it that some law enforcement agents pursued the truck up to that point as it tried to negotiate the roundabout. But the fact that it happened late in the night, it would have caused many casualties.

 

An artisan, Ozoemena Ekemezie, who frowned at the development on the Eke Awka road, appealed to relevant authorities to take steps to find a solution to the impasse to alleviate the suffering of the people, "This is the major market in the capital territory,  yet certain precautions are not taken to avert chaos or accident that could claim lives. Who should be blamed when such happens? The government demolished some shops on major roads last year, what did the exercise achieve? This road is more congested and disorderly, he," fumed.

 

Apart from commercial bus and tricycle operators often causing traffic congestion on the road, another worrying factor is traders competing with motorists on the road, as they occupy almost half of the road in the evenings. Three times, the combined effort of Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra (OCHA Brigade), the Anambra Traffic Management Agency (ATMA) tried to combat the menace but that has not solved the problem. In a bid to retain sanity, they confiscate goods to deter traders from occupying the edge of the road only for them to discontinue after a week or two. 

 

Illegal levies characterize the market. In spite of announcements and warnings by the state government suspending the collection of illegal levies in the market, petty traders oblige or risk their goods and wares being seized by some people who claim to be government agents. A trader, Oge Okechukwu, lamented the activities of these agents who collect illegal levies. She urged the state government to work towards arresting all illegal levy collectors in the market.

 

"We hear on the radio of arrests made on illegal levy collectors in the state. To date, none has been made in this market despite several cries from the traders; every evening they come to the roadside to harass us. And they tell you they carry it out on the instruction of the market leadership, which I believe to be true."

 

In light of the likely solution to the confusion, people called for the relocation of the market to a spacious area that will have the design of a structured market. A shopper, Stella Nwosu wondered why after years of the purported plan by the state government to relocate the market nothing has been done. "Relocating the market will be one of the best things that will happen to the capital city. It's beyond traffic disorderliness on the market road. A planned market with a motor park and ultra-modern facilities will add to the physical beauty of the city," she concluded.