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THE GUARDIAN, Sunday March 3, 2013
BUSINESSEXTRA
Govt, Traders, Residents In Dire Straits
What has the government done? It is just to give a dog bad name so as to hang it. I want to believe that this is serious economic sabotage. It was learnt that the traders themselves had area boys, who used top extort money If government doesn’t want a mar- pushed from motorists, away from the notorious ToyBus stop. Now, the traders, who protected ket there, let them close the mar- ota the motorists in the past, are the ones doing ket so that both the traders and the extortion. the government alike would rest. LSO, members of the Nigeria Police Force A (NPF) dispatched to the embattled market How can the government be so have not helped matters. There were reports of maltreatment of traders, as they maltreated ruthless to its tax payers? I of the traders for trying to gain access to thought there should be a form of many the market by the police. Others, who were able to “settle” the police, appreciation that we pay our rents, were allowed access to their stalls to pick some rates and other unclassified pay- items for sale. According to Tolani Ogunbunmi, a trader, inments we make to both state and cessant closure of the Ladipo Market has become government’s regular way of extorting local governments money from traders outside the statutory Speaking on the loss, Secretary of the Aguiyi Ironsi Traders Union, Christian Igbaunam, told pressmen the market was losing over N100 billion per day He said: “We have over 15,000 registered members. Individual member make at least N10 million daily.” A trader, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “whenever I offload my containers, I make nothing less than N15 million. Just imagine what I have lost.” Another that gave his name as Jude Tobechukwu, said: “We are losing billions of naira to the closure. I have lost over N10 million since the closure. That is a huge sum of money that even the government do not want to lose.” Members of the Odekimade/Olanibi Market Association said they lose, at least, N5 million estimated profit daily. The same section was closed from July 19 to August 20 last year. But they traded the first two days of the closure since it was not considered part of main market. It was shutdown on Wednesday morning on the arrival of the state’s Commissioner for Environment, Tunji Bello. “We have no business with what is happening in the main market. When the section was closed, the main market was not affected. We were not served; so, we wonder why our shops should be closed,” queried one of the traders. Meanwhile, some of the traders have taken to the role of miscreants also known as ‘area boys’, collecting money from motorists at the Toyota Bus Stop, along the Oshodi-Isolo Expressway. The traders, who were sighted, extorting money from motorists, urged the drivers to lend their voice to the call for immediate reopening of the market. “Please, we are traders. This is not the work we do; but we have to keep our families going. We are not forcing you to pay, but just to help us. Please, help us beg Fashola to re-open the markets. “Our leaders have begged the government with N30 million, but they refused, demanding N100 million from us. Is it fair? Where does the government expect us to get such amount of money?”
taxes and rents that they pay to the government. He said that the market generates huge amount of income for the state government, yet it has made no input in the market. “We have paid all that the government demanded of us; so, why do they lock us outside? Fashola is not being fair. The last time they closed the market, we paid N30 million to a former Governor of Lagos before the market was re-opened,” Ogunbunmi alleged. He noted that the roads had remained in poor condition, as government looked the other way. “We spend huge amount of money on sewage and waste disposal. At the end of the day, they would want to blame us. I’m tired of this whole thing. If the government wants to demolish that market, let them do it once and for all. “Why is the government busy dealing with markets in the state?” Wondered, Emeka Ihejirika. “Few months ago, it was Ketu fruits market, now, Ladipo. You need to know the amount of money we paid to get the market re-opened each time they locked it. “They will always come usingf environmental pollution, as reason for the closure. But truth is that, all these claims are lies from the pit of hell. They claimed that we don’t have toilets and that we defecate in canals. But there are several quarters with toilets, built by the traders. Fashola didn’t provide public toilet for us, where he carts away millions of naira. “What has the government done? It is just to give a dog bad name so as to hang it. I want to believe that this is serious economic sabotage. If government doesn’t want a market there, let them close the market so that both the traders and the government alike would rest. “How can the government be so ruthless to its tax payers? I thought there should be a form of appreciation that we pay our rents, rates and other unclassified payments we make to both state and local governments.” A food vendor at the market, Mrs. Shola Adebowale said she was shocked by government’s action. “I have a number of children that I’m taking care of and, where do I get the money to feed them now that the market is closed? And I do not have an idea, when they will re-
open it. “I’m scared because the market might be set ablaze, just like some other markets in Lagos, where government has taken full possession. I’m talking about the ordeal of Yaba traders, who were given three days to evacuate the market,” she said. Adebowale, who informed that her neighbour had lost a fortune at the Yaba market, expressed the fear that her foodstuffs and other personal belongings at the Ladipo market might be lost. “I really do not know what government is doing with N100 million it is demanding from us. It’s very unfair.” For Ebele Nze, a television repairer, the state government is sending wrong signals to the traders, who are mainly of the Igbo stock, that they are not needed in Lagos. “Last week, I heard some people say, Igbos had dominated the management and leadership of the market and something needed to be done. This is just few weeks ago and now, we are into this.”
…I locked My Money Inside My Shop; Now, I Have No Food To Eat
ICTOR Ike feels bad about the incident because he locked all his money inside his stall and cannot access the shop. “When I closed on Saturday, I locked my money inside my shop with the hope of using it on Monday, but now I can’t access my stalls.” A food vendor, Mrs. Dorcas Ayo also counts her loss, saying she couldn’t sell the food she cooked that fateful day. “I woke up early Monday morning and prepared food, which I would sell in the market. Unfortunately, when I got to the market, I was confronted with the closure; I felt so bad because the food had already been prepared, and I don’t have any other place to sell it,” she lamented. “We are losing a lot because one week is enough for some one to make money. Now, my business has been crippled; I have a lot of goods to deliver to my customers but there is no way I can do this. Every week, I make over N200,000. Now, I am losing the money and I will pay back the loan, including the interest because I borrowed the capital.”
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N10 million to open this market, they will tell us N80 million. We must ensure that anybody, who does not have any shop in Ladipo, will not hold any position. They are the ones causing this trouble for us. “How will they go and sign that there will not be street trading and parking of vehicles along the street in Ladipo, yet they will go and collect money from people and apportion spaces to them? At the end, they will be the ones benefiting from the crises that they created. “If they have stalls and suffer the way we do, they will not be able to do anything that would lead to the closure of the business. They cause this problem because they want to collect N50 million from us. But nemesis will catch up with them.” A food seller in the market, Mrs. Bilikisu Ganiyu said the market leaders collected N500 each from each trader a week before the closure of the market to settle government officials at the end of the day’s business. “But, they finally shut down the market,” she said.
…Residents Groan At Police’s Maltreatment And Harassment
ESIDENTS residing within the closed market have expressed concern over the security barrier and routine harassment at the axis. Mr. Idowu Faronbi, a resident in the market, said that he had peacefully lived in the market in the last 30 years and had all his children in the community, but since the closure of the market on Monday, he hadn’t been able to sleep well due to the activities of police and Ajagungbale (Land grabber), parading his apartment at the mid night. “I was standing in front of my house yesterday and they started parading inside the market. When they saw me, they asked me to leave the premises but I told them that I’m in front of my house. Still, they didn’t allow me access to my house; so, I had to look for a place to sleep.” According to him, many people do not know that there is a residential area in the market; the reason the police did not allow him to enter his house. “Ladipo is not only a market but also a residential area for many people,” he said. Faronbi explained that, before the closure, the landlords association had warned the traders to …LACEC Is The Problem …We Must Resist clean the environment regularly. Non-stall Owners From Taking Positions “We are suffering because the police can ASIL Okeke, another stakeholder took the come at anytime to pursue us. We don’t rest. story from an entirely new dimension: “The Our children can no longer go to school most problem we are facing now in Ladipo is caused times. If they sneak out in the morning, they by the Ladipo Central Executive Council would not allow them in by the time they are (LACEC),” he said. back.” “They are the ones that sabotage whatever we “There was an issue on ground before the clodo because they do not own stalls and do not sure of the market. There are land grabbers popfeel the pain we feel each time the market is ularly known as Ajagungbale in Ladipo. They closed. They connive with the government to have tried to drive us away from the market by rob us. coming in the night to destroy our belongings “We held a meeting around 2pm today so that we can leave the community. (Thursday) and we agreed that anybody, who “They are now capitalising on the closure of does not have a shop in the market, will not be the market to make life miserable for us. They our leader any more. The LACEC do not own connive with law enforcement agents to drive any business and that is why they are exploitus away from our various homes. The majority ing and sabotaging us. of the residents have lodged complaints; yet, we “If the government says it’s going to collect have not got our freedom of movement. “One of the residents called me three days ago that he wanted to come to Ladipo. He wanted to know if they could let him in, but I told him to come. Unfortunately, they didn’t let him in. they should understand that it was the market that is shut down not the residents in Ladipo.”
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…Police Tortured And Extorted N8,000 From Me NE of the traders, Benjamin Opaifa, narrates O his ordeal in the hands of the Police, “I wanted to carry two engines from my shop, because I had a customer waiting for them. But when I got to the place, I met security men, who ordered me to kneel down and raise my hands, following another instruction to roll on the ground. “I did that; but it got to a point that I became angry and wouldn’t want to do anything again. I resisted them and one of them called me and asked what I wanted. I told them, and they initially asked me to pay N30, 000 and negotiation ensued. Eventually, they collected N8000 from me. The police are busy making their own money with the crises at hand. For some people, they collected N7000 per engine. But I paid N8000.
Environmental Or Political War?
TRADER, who pleaded anonymous said, “We A were at the market on Monday and some people, who claim to be environmental taskforce came and later in the day, they turned PoSprawling shacks expected to be pulled down before traders can open.
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