Kasuwar Monday is a business place in Kaduna which serves as a major trade base for foodstuff and other goods.
MIDAT JOSEPH writes that rather than operate business in shops and stalls, buying and selling of items in the market is basically done on the bare dusty floor which has become a source of worry to the people.
A visit to the ever busy market on a fateful day will make someone wonder whether the operation of the Kasuwar Monday, located in the Kurmin-Gwari area of Kaduna city, is controlled by any government agency. This is because, there is no single sign to show that a market where business thrive exist therein. The place where the market is situated serves as a T-junction that linked the major roads leading to Defense Industry Corporation , DIC and the comatose Arewa Textile Mill in Kaduna.
Every Monday of the week, the T-junction which hitherto is obviously not occupied by multitude of persons at ordinary days, strangely becomes a gathering of multitude of persons comprising buyers and sellers from different parts of the country.The Market is as old as Nigeria itself, according to some traders who were interviewed.
Mama Saratu is one of the regular sellers at the market. The 65 year-old farmer from Niger State who settled in Kaduna said she started selling yams in the market with her mother, about 40 years ago. She said after her mother died, 16 years ago, she took over the business and has continued to dwell in it till now. In her assumption, the market could be over a hundred years.
She said, the market was initially a common place where the Gwari people who, according to her, were predominantly farmers and usually take their harvested produce such as maize, beans, yams, sweet potato and other farm inputs to sell at very cheap rates.
However, it was gathered from residents of Kurmin-Gwari area where the market is located that the market had first started as a meeting point for the Gwari men and women who operated trade by barter. It was learnt that with the advent of the naira currency, it had gradually transformed into a busy market for buying and selling of all goods and food items. Hence the high patronage of traders, it jumped into a bubbling state where it has being today.
What is most striking but however, very surprising is that despite the long existence of the market, it has not transformed beyond the old state it was known for, and without any expansion of its selling and buying points. There are no shops, just as no stalls.
It was learnt that the non-existence of shops in the market is not unconnected to some traditional beliefs which probably have held that whoever build a shop or stall in the market would meet untimely death. But this notion is yet to be confirmed hence there is no assertive declaration from residents of the area where the market is situated.
In Kaduna, Kasurwa market has become the most famous trading zone within the metropolis. This is so because of its uniqueness. There is free space location which, many people confirmed makes the place very accessible to traders who attend the market every Monday with their varied goods. What has become the obvious in the place is that intending traders would simply, without any approval, grab a ground space to spread their goods and commence the business of buying and selling.
Ofcourse, it was gathered that people who operate business in the place do pay a token of between N100 and N300 for each ground space occupied. The fact is that there are no noticeable shops and stalls built and or allotted in the place. The bare ground is however dusty during the dry season and very muddy during the raining season.
“The market is seemingly a highly competitive free business place. As a trader, all you need do is to get a space, with personal struggle and at relatively no cost, then make demarcation and simply spread the goods. But once the market closes at between 6 and 7pm, the temporary stands put up by traders are quivkly detached and no one claims ownership of them,” a trader stated.
Meanwhile, it was discovered that the Gwari people who are said to be the original founders of the market are nearly edged out of the affairs of the market. This is because traders of Igbo, Yoruba and other tribes have taken over operation of business in the place. The market opens as early as 6am.
When LEADERSHIP visited the place, it was discovered
that sellers and buyers throng into the place. It was observed that any commodity sold in the market is far cheaper than any being sold in the shops across the other markets in the city. In fact , one of the conditions that has necessitated the large crowd that is being witnessed in the market is the low price of items.
For example, a tuber of yam , which ordinarily is sold at between N200 and N350 in other markets is sold in Kasuwa Monday at between N100 and N150. A full basket of tomato sell at N4, 000 not comparable to the price obtainable in other markets. There is a section of fairly used clothes which are sold at very cheaper rate. For example, a jeans trouser, shirts could be bought in the market between N100 and N200 accordingly, a trader who simply gave his name as Nura explained.
Another fascinating thing found in the place is that the traders have engaged a local traffic officer who regulate movement of persons and vehicles hence there is constant gridlock in the area.
The traffic controller, fondly identified as Yerima told our reporter that the market is expanding every day due to more sellers that come to do business, with different items.
“Business is done here on the bare floor, there are no shops or stalls. Things are cheaper here and so, you have traders from Sheikh Gumi, Kasuwar Barchi, Sabo Market and other markets within the town moving en-mass to this place. They buy and sell here at cheaper rate before moving them to other markets to sell at higher price.
Farmers from Chikun , Kaduna North, Kaduna South and Igabi local government areas are not left out, they have consistently become regular as they register their presence every monday when the market opens.The market has graduated from being just a food market that it was known for, to a market where fairly used clothes, shoes, kitchen utensils, assorted grains, animals and other commodities are sold,” Yerima stated.
At the moment, many of those who patronize the Kasuwa Monday market have maintained that trading in the place has more gains than pains. For them, the existence of the market is a means of revival and survival. Food stuff section
As it stands, patronage in Kasuwar Monday is increasing by the day. The existence of the market has served both the rich and poor with varieties of food items and other commodities. The need for government to intervene by evolving workable measures to give the place a facelift and boost business is imperative.
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