The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) says plans are underway to close Utako Market, one of the largest markets in Utako District, Abuja, over poor sanitation.

The director of development control, FCTA, Mukhtar Galadima, raised the alarm in Abuja on Monday over what he described as “safety concerns and poor sanitation” to avert the advent of an epidemic.

Mr Galadima said the deteriorating sanitation in the market, managed by the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), was disturbing.

According to him, the market has become a time bomb for disaster waiting to happen, stressing the urgent need to clean up the market.

“It is sad that such a market, located within the heart of the city, could be allowed by its managers to degenerate into a state where both human and environmental safety are compromised,” said Mr Galadima.

He said an urgent meeting would be convened with all stakeholders in the market, with a vow to take proactive measures to address the problem.

The director frowned at the market’s leadership for allowing illegal traders to overflow into the major streets around Utako residential areas.

He warned that the task force on city sanitation would not allow any trader to sell on the street, a development that he said was leading to the vandalisation of and defacing of road infrastructure.

On his part, the secretary of FCTA’s Command and Control, Peter Olumuji, said apart from the nuisances in the area, residents around the market also complained of security threats surging from the market.

Mr Olumuji argued that the market has been overtaken by idle youth and suspected hard drug peddlers and addicts.

He disclosed that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency has been briefed to pay close attention to the market area to curb the activities of drug peddlers in and around the market.

During the visit, the task force cleared illegal traders operating along the roads around the market.

(NAN)