UTUTU BU AFIA:

AWKA RESIDENTS SLUMBERING AWAY EARLY MOR MOR ECONOMY?.

By Gab Ndu Okpalaeze

Early to bed, early to rise, was part of our nursery rhymes then. But for most inhabitants of Awka, the capital of Anambra state, those rhymes have been confined to the dustbin of history. It is for them early to bed, late to rise.
Have you taken time to check on the pattern of economic activities in the ancient black-smith town of Anambra, which some thirty one years ago emerged the capital city of the new Anambra state? If you have, you would have noticed that Aroma Junction, the socio-economic hot-bed of the city, comes to life barely few minutes to eight o’clock in the morning. This is a sharp contrast when compared with Onitsha, which wakes up about four hours earlier.
Indeed, Nkpor Junction, Upper Iweka, Ose Okwodu and other strategic areas of Onitsha come alive with commercial enterprises and other economic activities, as early as half past four in the morning, everyday.
By that time, the hardworking women from Orumba-Aguata axis, or Nnobi-Umuoji area, have already arrived in town with their fresh vegetables, palm oil, fruits and other food stuff. Meat dealers are already transporting their goods from the Umunya abattoir, Oye-Olisa, Afor-igwe and other such slaughter houses, to the commercial capital of Anambra. Trust the resilient fish dealers who have traversed many communities to ferry their fresh fishes from Omambala, Ogbahu, etc to Ose market Onitsha, from where they redistribute to retailers, at that hour of the morning.
The vast area that has become Onitsha and its environs are woken up by the hooting of horns and dazzling lights of commercial vehicles, accompanied by loud shouts of Ose Main Market-Ose, Nkpor - Toll Gate- by Express, etc, on daily basis.
By the time all these things are happening at the same time, you would not need any other sign to know that Onitsha has woken up for the day’s socio-economic engagements, which significantly contribute to the growth of the national economy.
Compare this with the seemingly no-skin-pain posture of Awka and you would appreciate the economic sense our people make by rising up early to face the challenges of putting food on the table of their families Monday-Sunday. But you cannot say this with certainty of Awka, despite the street lighting project of the Obiano administration that has put away darkness and fears.
The area is peopled by essentially public servants and it is a university community too. It is not easily discernible whether it is the ‘white collar job’ syndrome of the workers in Awka that influence the artisans, traders and even professionals, like pharmacists, doctors, lawyers, etc, or it is the other way round.
But the bottom-line is that you can hardly get any attention were you to need the services of a lawyer, pharmacies or kiosk in most parts of Awka capital city, if it is ‘too early’ in the day.
It has always been a mix grill of laughter and disappointment, watching the empty streets, locked up shops and markets, as their owners sleep away their time, waiting for the town to come alive on her own, by eight O' clock in the morning!
At the end of the day, the socio-economic life of all residents are somehow affected, and it would seem, more on the minus side#

From Awka, Anambra State, this is Gab Ndu Okpalaeze, trying to make some little kobo-kobo economic sense.###

They ran I d morning to avoid unknown gunmen

They choose sit-at-home above everything. And we are so happy for them. we wish them all the best,and let them continue sitting at home till the next 10 decades

triple996:
They ran I d morning to avoid unknown gunmen FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FORCES

FIXED

Hisbah21:
They choose sit-at-home above everything. And we are so happy for them. we wish them all the best,and let them continue sitting at home till the next 10 decades

See pain

What exactly is the purpose of this article? Is it that people are no longer free to open their private businesses when they want or what?

Of all the challenges bedeviling this country, this is what someone chose to bother himself? Rubbish!

Please leave Awka city that way for us.. We don't want Lagos- Pro max here.

One of the reason why we have more mentally drained persons in the streets of Onitsha and Lagos as compared to other cities is due to lack of rest.

You want people to be waking up past 4am Monday-Sunday, 365 days, every year just to answer economic viable city.?
Nonsense and Buhari

Awka like Owerri ,Enugu , umuahia and asaba this are Igbo cities that are meant for oringo leave it like that Dede

If u want to see people start hustling by 4 am even 24 hours u know where to find them Dede

The other day someone was saying Owerri is hotel hotel ..leave it like that for us go to orlu , okigwa and built factory ...oguta and Owerri are for enjoyment
....lodge in any hotel in Owerri look outside any window ..u can count at least 10 other hotels ..
Those hotels have security , chef , accountants , managers , store keepers , these are jobs too

[s]

triple996:
They ran I d morning to avoid unknown gunmen

[/s]

I love Anambra...God bless ndigbo,God bless Africa.

What kind of stupid thread is this?
You sit in your bed all through morning and you have the guts to tell the entire Awka businessmen when to wake up and not. If customers come by that time, they will definitely open.

Is this not the definition of the "madness" people have been talking about?
Na you open shops for them?
You that came out by 4am, what were you looking for?
Who were you expecting to see?

Ndi mmadụ sef

@ Op

Let me enlighten you About the two cities in Anambra which are Awka and Onitsha.

Onitsha is a commercial city which houses the biggest market in West Africa.
Infact onitsha as a whole is a market on it's own.
you hardly see any building in onitsha without shops and warehouses.
there's nothing being trade under this sun you cannot find in onitsha.
so being more of a business areas, you are expected as a trader to wake up early in order to meet up with the sales of the day from your customers far and wide.
you don't expect your ogoja, ikot ekpene, Cameroon (yes people do come to purchase things in onitsha from other African countries), etc.
you don't expect these customers to arrive onitsha on time because of them leaving early in their locations only to find you late in the market.
you might loose them to your neighbour who wakes up on time because those people actually needs to make purchases early so they can go back early too.
as a vegetable vendor you need to go to waterside to purchase your vegetables so that you'll get the freshest from the farm directly and more cheaper too.
so you see, if you're living in onitsha the nature of the city will make you to always be punctual.


Awka: A capital city which houses the government house and various secretariat, government agencies and ministries.
unlike onitsha Awka is more of a work based city which many residents are either government workers or private company workers.
awka does not have a major market except eke awka and nkwo amenyi which are just a normal market you can find in any city.
even those markets combine are not even up to half of Ose market in Onitsha.
they even source their goods from onitsha so as you can see it's not a big market compare to Onitsha.
you don't expect a government worker to leave the house by 7am naaa.
that's why you see the city getting to life by 8am because that's when working hours starts.

my point here is that it's unfair to compare both cities because they're not serving same purpose to Anambarians.
Ekelu olu eke

God bless Anambra State.