Jos Terminus Market is the largest Market in Plateau, It was the largest in West Africa until it was burnt down by fire in the year 2002. Nevertheless, this market still stands and almost everything that one may need can still be gotten in it.
Mr Biggs Eatery in Terminus Market. This is located at the central area of the Market just beside the First Bank and Opposite Sterling Bank
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Location of Terminus Market
It is Located in Jos North Local government area of Plateau state and People from all the local governments of Plateau state and some neighboring states such as Bauchi and Kaduna patronize this market on a daily basis or once in a while; no wonder, there are so many motor parks seen within this market where people come from various places to buy and sell things. People also come from different states of the federation of Nigeria in order to get what they want such as those that come to buy eggs, clothes, electronics, medical facilities etc. This influx of people from different places makes this market very busy and congested.
A street for selling of Plastic containers and some food stuff in Terminus Market, Jos
Planning and Sectioning of Terminus Market
Finding what you need in this market could be very difficult unless you go with someone who has known the locations of the needed items you may be searching for. But just like any other big markets, the Jos (Main market) as it was commonly called has been sectioned by the merchants themselves so that buyers could easily get what they want at specific places always. This sectioning makes it easier to know where clothing materials are sold, or where Food stuffs, Housing materials, electronics etc. are sold. Hence, the terminus market has been partitioned in a way that once you find what you are looking for, you will observe that there will be so many other similar items being sold there. This makes it easier for you so that if you are not satisfied with what someone sells, you could move to the next shop that sells similar items.
Another street in Terminus Market, Jos Plateau state
Though this market has been sectioned, it is not entirely perfect in the sense that you could find some people selling things that are different from the common goods or service rendered there; for example, you could find someone selling bags where food stuffs are being sold. But these are exceptions that could happen anywhere.
This street shows where the 2015 Bomb blast occurred. Varieties of Commodities were sold on this street such as Clothes and some Provision stores. Though some shops are still selling, others have been destroyed
Getting to know where to buy things could be confusing even to those that have been to the market too. I remembered when I wanted buying Tampolene for our chicken house and I had to search almost half of the market but I could not find it. I asked some people that sell things but they could not know too. I finally got help from someone who showed me one place I had never seen before. That was when I knew that this market is still verse and it was wider and bigger than I thought, I said to myself that it will be wise if I write about where to get items in this market as it could help other people especially for things that I had to take so much time to find them.
Road leading to Terminus central area near Old JUTH Hospital. Some Buses can be seen parked (This is the Lamingo Park)
Services and Products with their location and availability
Here are the descriptions of some places with goods and services found there. Starting from Murtala Mohammed way:
- Tyre are being sold along Murtala Mohammed way and these Tyre are for cars. The shops for selling this start near UTC junction and ends near Jos Electricity Distribution Company office(commonly called NEPA House) or at the Gangare junction.
- Along this road are Chicken Feeds being sold mainly by Hybrid Feeds Dealers.
- Starting from Gangare Junction, the University of Jos (Gangare Campus) is located just by this junction and Photocopying and computer typing shops are found directly opposite this campus.
- After the Campus are shops such as Pharmacies, Walking aids shops for items such as Wheel chairs, walking sticks, crunches and Laboratory Equipment Shops, including Laboratory chemicals. These things are sold around this site because the Temporary site of the Jos University Teaching Hospital,JUTH was initially here and so these were sold near the hospital to enable patients in need of them to easily buy them.
- After this Laboratory shops then is the Old site of JUTH. There is still nursing school in the temporary site of JUTH and also the Psychiatry department has not completely moved to the permanent site in Lamingo. The mortuary of the old site of JUTH is still at this temporary site.
- By the Gate of JUTH is the Lamingo Park where people enter to the permanent site of the Hospital.
- Directly opposite the fence of JUTH are shops for selling clothes and other people are seen around selling them on the ground. Beside and behind these shops is the Terminal Station for trains, even though the station is not very functional again, there are few trains often seen once in a while. This market got its name from this station. There is a police station near this place.
- The shops for selling clothes continue till the round about near the First bank in the center of the market. Together with the clothes, there are materials sold such as Curtain materials, Bed sheets and other materials made from wool.
Old Bukuru Park near Terminus Market, Jos
Limitations and Setbacks to growth
The activity of people in terminus has greatly reduced due to an order by the state government that stopped the selling of goods on the main roads and also the stoppage of Keke Napep (tricycles) from getting access into the market. Another factor was the ban on the use of motor cycles in Jos town.
Selling of items is segmented and you often see an area where only electronics are sold, another area where clothes are sold and yet another for selling of books as described below:
Computers, Phones and accessories and other electronics are found at Rwang Pam street and you could find laptops, ipads, phones, memory devices, printers, batteries and chargers etc. along this street.
First Bank in Terminus Market, Jos. This is the central area. It was here that the Mama Tapgun (Mother of Tapgun) Stature was located.
Repairs of Phones, and selling of phones and its accessories are found alongAhmadu Bello way and this specific area is commonly called “Hamaz” which was called after a Shop for selling of Phones and accessories called Hamaz that is located along this street. Located along the Ahmadu Bello way is Gtbank and opposite Gtbank is Unity bank; besides Unity bank is Southern Fried Chicken eatery. Other banks located along this way are Zenith Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Diamond bank, and Oceanic bank (because of the many banks sited at a specific area along ahmadu bello way, the area has been called: “Bank road”). Just beside Unity bank on its right is the Power House (Electricity House) which is a tall white building.
Mama Tapgun Stature initially located at the central area before being destroyed.
Located in this marketis a big roof which is so large that serves as a shed ( some people use the partitions inside as shops) for people and under this roof are many shops for the sell of ear rings, televisions, shoes and leather bags etc. and provision shops. It was this roof that was burned by the fire incident. Opposite this large roof is a story building complex for the sell of clothes mostly on the upper stair and the sell of provisions below. In between these two structures (building complex and the large roof) is the road that is called Murtala Mohammed Way. Along Murtala Mohammed wayis the Old site of Jos University Teaching Hospital,JUTH and opposite JUTH is the Former Terminal station of the Jos Railway which has now been converted to a Police station. It was duethis Terminal station that the Terminus Market is called.Murtala Mohammed road ends at a Junction at the center of the marketwhich divides into two roads. This junction initially had a sculpture of a woman having a baby on her back and selling food items in a basket on her head (She was initially referred to as “Mama Tapgun” which means the mother of Tapgun. Tapgun was one time governor of Plateau state and the child on her back was believed to be him). This sculpture has been destroyed now. At this Mama Tapgun’s junction, one road passes to Bauchi Road (this road forms part of the Bauchi ringed road) while another leads to a short street within the same market; located at this short street is First bank, Mr. Biggs Eatery on one side of the street and opposite these two structures is Sterling Bank and Total filling station. Surrounding the Mama Tapgun Junction are: First Bank, Total filling station and the Large roof in terminus. At the back of First bank and Mr. Biggs is a complex for selling of Shoes, Electronics such as rechargeable lanterns, radios and televisions and also for selling of Pop Corn machines, mattresses etc.
ECWA Goodnews Church in Terminus
Ashort street (lane) links Murtala Mohammed way and Ahmadu Bello way. The ends of these two streets form the central part of thismarket. At the end of Ahmadu Bello way is a sculpture, which sits at the center of a round-about that links to different parts within this market (one road links to Plateau riders, another to Masallachi Juma’a street). Surrounding this round about is Zenith bank, ECWA Goodnews Church, and Mr. Biggs eatery. Another lane from this round about links Ahmadu bello way with Rwang Pam street.
Masalachin Jumaa near Terminus Market, Jos
ThisMarket is a very large market even after it was razed down by fire in 2002 and in the whole of Jos north, south and east, it only competes withKatako market in terms of the number of activity that goes on in the market and the size.