{"id":897,"date":"2026-07-12T21:20:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T20:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=897"},"modified":"2026-07-12T21:20:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T20:20:37","slug":"abraka-festival-disrupts-businesses-as-traders-count-losses-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=897","title":{"rendered":"Abraka Festival Disrupts Businesses as Traders Count Losses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By Kennedy Margaret<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mixed reactions have trailed the 2026 Ovwuvwe Festival in Abraka, Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State, as many shop owners reported significant financial losses despite the cultural celebration attracting large crowds to the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The annual festival, held on May 19, transformed major streets in Abraka into centres of cultural displays, traditional dances and masquerade performances. While residents and visitors celebrated the event, many traders said the festivities disrupted commercial activities and forced several businesses to close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Business owners operating around Police Station Junction, Lucas Road and Abraka Market said security concerns, road closures and reduced customer access prevented them from carrying out their normal trading activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mrs. Florence Akabuaku, who owns a provision store near Abraka Market, said although she appreciates the importance of preserving the community&#8217;s cultural heritage, the festival negatively affected her business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>READ ALSO:<\/strong> <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=892\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"892\">Dilapidated Roads, Flooding Disrupt Daily Life In Abraka\u2026Residents Seek Govt Intervention<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;I understand the value of culture and celebration, but because of the security concerns associated with the festival, I could only open my shop without displaying my goods. I lost nearly \u20a620,000 in expected sales,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Similarly, a clothing vendor identified simply as Mr. Culture described the situation as unfair to traders who depend on daily sales for survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;I could not even open my shop because of the festival. People like us rely on daily income, so losing an entire day&#8217;s business is difficult,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By midday, many shops around the town had already shut their doors as customers stayed away and movement became restricted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>READ ALSO:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/?p=900\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"900\">Students Lament Rising Cost Of Living In Abraka, Sellers Blame Inflationary Economy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Kennedy Margaret Mixed reactions have trailed the 2026 Ovwuvwe Festival in Abraka, Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State, as many shop owners reported significant financial losses despite the cultural celebration attracting large crowds to the community. The annual festival, held on May 19, transformed major streets in Abraka into centres of cultural [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"iawp_total_views":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[31,229],"class_list":["post-897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trendingnews","tag-abraka","tag-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":968,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897\/revisions\/968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediaconversation.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}