Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has pledged to interface with Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State on behalf of traders at a livestock market located in Oluyode Estate, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
Obasanjo, who visited the livestock market named after him – The Olusegun Obasanjo Day-old Chicks International Market on Thursday, assured that the market would be restructured to give a conducive environment, assured the traders that efforts would be made by the Oyo State government to upgrade the market.
The former president arrived the market in the morning and went round it in the company of Sunday Agusa, the general manager of the Obasanjo Farms, Ibadan, located in the area.
He said his attention was drawn to the market by his staff and that his name had been used to grow the market to become a national and international market on day-old chicks.
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“My attention was drawn to the situation here and I decided to come and see things myself. Consciously and unconsciously, you have developed into a full market; you buy, you sell, you interact. And this has made it very popular far and near, even though, it was not structured.
“So, what remains is that if we don’t want them to send us away from here, we have to structure ourselves in order to continue to benefit from the gains of trading our day-old chicks.
“What I am saying in essence, is that, I will endeavour to see the governor to provide for us an alternative place if this area is not available for you, bringing your hatched chicks or coming to buy our chicks here. We have to plan against any government coming to send us away and that is the structure that I am talking about.”
The leader of the Day-old Chicks Merchant Association of Nigeria (DOCMAN), Olaiya Ogunmoyewa, appreciated the coming of the former president, saying the visit had lessened their fears on the future of the market, as Obasanjo has spoken to their agitation and they were pleased with what he told them.
“This is what was on our mind. And you have told us the move you will take to assist us. We want to thank you and by God’s grace, we shall all be happy at the end of the day”, he said.
