The Lagos State Government today re-opened Ladipo Auto Spare Parts
Market in Mushin area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria after two weeks of
closure.
The market was shut by the government on 25 February,
2013 as a result of filth at the market and environmental degradation,
as well as hooliganism and thuggery in the market.
Officials of
the Lagos State Government and leadership of the market met today and
signed an agreement that the market must be kept clean always and that
no street trading would be allowed on the streets.
Taskforce
Chairman, Bayo Sulaiman told P.M.NEWS that the government and the
traders are meeting over the re-opening of the market, saying that the
market would be re-opened after the meeting.
Commissioner for the
Environment, Mr Tunji Bello had said that some of the conditions that
might warrant re-opening of the market include: complete removal of all
illegal structures and attached structures built along canal paths and
that traders must be confined to the main markets.
“Under no
condition must they trade or solicit for customers on the main road,
they must remove all shop attachments built round the market/canals,
remove all derelict and abandoned vehicles parked within the market as
far as the expressway, remediate all forms of degradation on the roads
and market area, sort out waste management issues with LAWMA as they
cannot continue to dump into the canals, ensure total cleaning of the
entire market and adjoining streets which they have degraded, among
others,” he said.
Bello had lamented the poor state of the
market, saying that “ the environment is seriously polluted and degraded
with oil; full and half engines spare parts and human waste are dumped
into canals, while illegal structures were built along drainage paths
and all the canal setbacks have been turned to shops and trading points.
“A
visit to the place also shows that street traders have taken over the
entire major inlets and outlets at the market, while residents have
severally petitioned the Ministry of the environment about lack of
access to their homes and property. These traders have degraded all the
major access roads to the market which need remediation rehabilitation.”
Before
the re-opening of the market, intensive sanitation had been done by the
marketers, while shanties built on drainage channels were demolished.
Last
week, Governor Babatunde Fashola visited the market with his
counterpart from Imo State, Rochas Okorocha and decried the horrible
environmental state of the market and gave conditions for its
re-opening.
He described the state of the market and its environs
as “massive degradation of a section of Lagos,” saying that the good
thing in the visit was that the traders had seen the lack of caution in
their deed and were ready to make amends.
“It is a massive
degradation of a section of Lagos and this is not acceptable. People
should not carry on like this. But what is, perhaps, worthy of note is
that those who are involved have seen the error of what they have done
here and are ready to work with us to clean-up and I have said here that
they must take the lead.
“The canal there poses a lot of danger
and we are expecting heavy rains. I don’t want to come back here to pick
any dead body. We built the canal and we must make it work by not
trading on it and not dumping refuse in it.
“People told me that
they picked engine parts, spare parts and other things from the canal.
It must stop,” the Governor said, adding that there is now an agreement
between the traders and the Government to work together to clean up the
place and continue with the business there,” he said.
According
to Fashola, “if you must trade here, you must stay behind the property
line. You can see the damage you have caused to the road. We have to
come back to re-do the road. Now this will be done with taxpayers’
money. It is fine that you want to do business but those who pay the
money used to construct the road must also be able to use it and how do
they do that if you take over the road?”
SOURCE : PM NEWS
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