WEEKLY MARKET SANITATION EXERCISE AND PERCEIVED WELL-BEING OF TRADERS IN SELECTED MARKETS IN IBADAN

Abstract

Market sanitation has been a serious problem in major cities in Nigeria. Indiscriminate dumping of refuse, littering and blocking the drainage system, insanitary defecation are common practices in major markets in Nigeria. This study investigated the role of weekly market sanitation exercise on perceived well-being of traders in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. A descriptive research survey method was adopted for the study. A total of 395 randomly selected traders and 105 purposefully selected buyers from four markets – Ogunpa, Oje, Akinyele, and Bodija, participated in the study. A single hypothesis was formulated and tested at the 0.05 significant level. A self-structured and validated questionnaire was used for data collection, and a reliability coefficient of 0.72 was obtained for the instrument using Cronbach's α coefficient. Socio-economic and demographic data were analysed with the use of frequency counts and percentages. Pearson correlation was employed for analysing relationship among the variables, while regression was used to test the hypothesis. The results showed that most marketers monthly income is relatively average, their educational status also showed that most of them have no formal education which could in the long run have an adverse effect on their level of concerned about diseases that are related to improper waste storage and disposal methods. The rate of hospital attendance has tremendously reduced compare to the period before the introduction of weekly market sanitation. The regression result r = 0.593 showed that improved environmental conditions have positive impacts on well-being of marketers. On the basis of the findings, it was recommended that the weekly market sanitation exercise be continued.