By Inyali Peter
There is a particular smell that children of traders in Northern Cross River never forget. The smell of dried croaker fish wrapped in old newspaper. The smell of new green keysoap wrapped in paper. The smell of money well spent on a good market day. That smell, for many of us, is forever tied to one name, the famous Okuku market, located in Yala Local Government Area of Cross River State.
My father was a peasant farmer and a groundnut trader. Not a wealthy man by any definition, but a hardworking one. His business revolved around two markets, the Utugwang main market closer to home, and the legendary Okuku market. Whenever he returned from Okuku, our household celebrated. There was food with dried fish. There was soap to wash school uniforms and church clothes. Occasionally, there were new slippers that we proudly wore beyond the bathroom. Okuku market days were celebration days in our home, and in thousands of homes just like ours across Northern Cross River.
The market was not merely a commercial hub. It was an economic engine, a cultural landmark, and for many communities in the area, the closest thing to a guaranteed income. Traders came from across Nigeria and beyond to buy and sell food items and quality fairly-used (Okrika) clothing. On market days, hotels in Ogoja filled up. Restaurants recorded their best sales of the week. Bus and motorcycle operators doubled their income. Churches received more in tithes and offerings because people had more in their pockets. Government collected more taxes. The market did not just sustain traders. It boosted the entire local economy.
This is not sentiment. Markets of this scale are documented economic multipliers. According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), well-structured market infrastructure in West Africa can increase rural household incomes by as much as 30 percent and greatly reduce post-harvest losses for smallholder farmers. The International Finance Corporation estimates that every dollar invested in market infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa generates up to four dollars in broader economic activity. Okuku was living proof of these numbers before the economists even wrote them down.
At its peak, Okuku market was the commercial heartbeat of Northern Cross River. Today, it is a shadow of all that. Poor road conditions and severe erosion gradually choked the life out of it. Structures were destroyed. Access became dangerous. Traders who once made the journey from Taraba, Benue, Plateau, Cameroun and beyond stopped coming, not because there was nothing to buy or sell, but because the road would not let them. One infrastructure failure dismantled decades of organic economic growth that no government policy had built, but one of negligence was able to destroy.
For 27 years since the return of democracy in 1999, successive administrations in Cross River have largely failed to invest meaningfully in market infrastructure as a deliberate economic strategy. While driving through the Abuja-Keffi road last week, I saw what Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has done with the Ado market; a gleaming, ultramodern facility designed to attract commerce, dignity and investment. Several states across the country have made similar commitments, understanding that a modern market is not a luxury. It is a statement of governmental seriousness about economic development.
The world’s most visited cities understand something our governments have been slow to grasp; great markets are tourist attractions. The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul draws over 40 million visitors annually. Chatuchak Market in Bangkok is one of Thailand’s top three tourist destinations. Bopolu Market in Liberia, once revived with external investment, became a rallying point for post-conflict economic recovery. Closer to home, Onitsha Main Market remains one of the largest markets in Africa and a significant contributor to Anambra’s IGR.
Cross River State, which proudly markets itself as Nigeria’s premier tourism destination, should understand this better than anyone. A revived and ultramodern Okuku market would not compete with tourist destinations like the Tinapa, Agbokim Waterfall or Obudu Mountain Resort, it would complement them. It will draw traders, tourists and investors and keeping them in the state longer.
Reviving Okuku is important, but it should not stop there. The North has Okuku. The Central district has the famous Okundi market in Boki. The South has the iconic Fish Market in Calabar South. Each carries history, identity and untapped economic weight. A coordinated investment by the state government, backed by federal support and private sector partnerships to transform one flagship market in each senatorial district would be nothing short of revolutionary. Not just economically, but psychologically. It would send a clear message to rural communities that their commerce matters and that development is not only meant for the state capital.
The ask is not extraordinary. It is basic governance. Fix the roads connecting Okuku and its surrounding communities. Commission an engineering assessment of erosion damage and begin immediate remediation. The AfDB has urban infrastructure programmes that government can tap into for funding. Private developers can be invited through Public-Private Partnership frameworks to co-fund and manage facilities in exchange for structured commercial leases.
Moreso, here is an opportunity too obvious to ignore. Sen. John Owan Enoh, Cross River’s own Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment sits in Abuja. The state government should be working that relationship aggressively to position Cross River as a major beneficiary of national market development initiatives. Brand the revived Okuku, Okundi and Fish markets as tourism and commerce destinations. Promote them at trade fairs. Put them on the state’s tourism calendar.
My father is gone now. But the memory of him returning from Okuku market with dried fish, keysoap, a pair of slippers and Okrika clothes lives on; not just in me, but in thousands of people across Northern Cross River who grew up knowing that market as the heartbeat of their local economy. That heartbeat has weakened. But it has not stopped.
Governments are elected to invest in the things that ordinary people cannot build for themselves. Cross River’s leaders, at local, state and federal levels owe it to the traders, farmers, transporters and families who built their lives around that market to bring it back. A modern market pays for itself through taxes, levies, tourism revenue and the larger economic activity it generates. The question is not whether Cross River can afford to revive Okuku. The question is whether Cross River can afford not to.
*-Inyali Peter, Ph.D.*
