A section of women at Igbona Market in Olorunda Local Government Area of Osun state, on Thursday, staged a peaceful march to protest against the ultimatum given by the Osun state government over the use of weighting scale known as ‘Osuwon Omoluabi’.
The less than 100 women under the aegis of Igbona Market Women Petty Traders Association, closed their shops and stormed the Government Secretariat, Abere, armed with their measuring bowls.
The government had introduced the weighting scale in a bid to standardize trade activities in the state and encouraged all markets in the state to align with this policy.
The policy, which was introduced about a year ago with the support of various market leaders across the state when operational, will end the imbalance in the measurement of goods in the markets.
Though the government through representative of market associations had agreed to allow timeline frame of one year for the policy to take effect on their members, but the market women had pleaded with government to extend the enforcement.
The government had subsidized the scaling for the market women; a development that caused the government to carry the larger burden.
Addressing the protesters, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Commerce, Hon. Simeon Olufemi Popoola, noted that the government would look into the plea of the traders.
Nigeria is the only country amongst its neighbors without standardized measuring scales for its trading activities.
