Mrs. Folashade Ojikutu, the market leader (Iyalaje) of the Oluwo fish market in the Epe Division of Lagos State, has lamented the low patronage for fish this dry season.

Ojikutu disclosed this in an interview in Epe, on Tuesday.

She attributed the shortfall to the dry season challenge where fishermen find it difficult to harvest fish.

“The fishermen hardly harvest fish during this dry season. Fishes are scarce in the lagoon during the dry season.

“Hence, this brings about the scarcity of fishes at the fish hub, the Oluwo fish market, where traders experience low patronage.

“Buyers complain of not seeing the varieties of fishes they wanted, while sellers are also worried about such challenges, but attributed it to the dry season, ” she said.

Ojikutu said that fish was scarce at this period and the few available ones were expensive, because the traders don’t have it in abundance, as it were during the rainy season.

She said that fishermen do experience a dry season between November and February every year, but from March downward, during the rainy season, fish would be surplus and even in excess.

The market leader appealed to customers to exercise patience with the traders for this period, as the scarcity of fish would soon be over.

Ojikutu expressed her unalloyed appreciation to Mr. Tokunbo Abiru, the Senator, representing Lagos east, for the ongoing construction and upgrading of the Epe fish market to a world standard.

She said that the senator had given the market a facelift within the shortest time, ”we are proud of him and his kind gesture”.

According to her, the renovation/upgrading of the fish market began in November 2021 and would be completed by May 2022.

“The senator promised to upgrade the market within six months which I believe he will fulfill his promise.

“With the way the workers are working on the site, the project will be completed very soon, ” she said.

She added that since the beginning of the upgrading of the market, traders had been trading openly at the market’s front.

“We are not really comfortable with it, but we are fine for now because, the upgrading of the market is to our own benefit, ” she said.

Ojikutu expressed her appreciation to Ms Surah Animashaun, Chairman, Epe local government, for standing by the traders during this trying period.

She said that the local government chairman had been up and doing, to ensure the project was properly monitored.

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Mrs. Iyabo Adekoya, a fish trader, said that the dry season was usually a terrible period for fish traders, because of the low patronage of both the fishermen and buyers.

“This season is not a good harvest period for fishermen, and buyers don’t see the varieties of fishes they want to buy, ” she said.