By Balogun Damilola
Commercial activities that had been on the low a few weeks ago in Akure, Ondo State came alive on Monday when most residents trooped out to engage in daily activities, following the ease on lockdown.
The town’s socio-economic activities had been sleepy as a result of the ban on political, social and religious gatherings, as well as the closure of markets and borders across the state by Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu.
A tour across Akure metropolis by YemieFash on Monday revealed that all preventive protocols for avoiding COVID-19 were ignored by most residents.
At Erekesan market around Oja-Oba, the traders thronged their shops which were still under lock with the hope it would be opened.
Most of the market women who were not putting on face masks gathered in clusters deliberating on the continued closure of the markets.
Some of the women appealed to the state government to look into their predicaments stressing that they can no longer cope with the continuous stay-at-home due to the shutdown of markets.
According to them, the situation is taking its toll as they argued that all their savings had been exhausted with no other means of survival.
The situation was not different along Oba Adesida-Oyemekun road as some of the shops not in the category of discharging essential services were already opened for businesses with customers trooping in.
Similarly, the situation at all the banks within Akure, the state capital was unusual as customers besiege the banks in hundreds without observing the social distancing measure.
Despite the tents provided by the banks to control the large crowd of customers, most of the customers were seen mounting pressure on security personnel attached to the banks to let them in.