BULLDOZERS roared furiously at Owonifari, the popular electrical and electronics market in Oshodi, Lagos, yesterday, as the market was reduced to rubble by the state government.
The entire market was demolished by a government team accompanied by scores of heavily armed policemen. The exercise, Daily Sun gathered, started around 12.30 am and it was carried out after the market had been shut down for four days. Within those four days, owners of the shops were not allowed entry to transact business or retrieve their goods.
When the reporter visited the demolished market, shops owners helplessly watched from afar as bulldozers reduced the entire market to rubble.
However, some of the traders, who heeded government’s earlier warnings, were lucky to have quickly taken their goods out of the shops before the market was later sealed.
But some of the traders accused the government of not serving them a written notice of evacuation from the market. But many of those that spoke with the reporter admitted that there had been warnings by the state government of its intention to demolish the place to enable it sanitise and beautify that particular area of Oshodi.
Meanwhile, the state government has said the electrical and electronics section of the market was shut down and demolished because it constituted an environmental menace.
A statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, noted that the government had said that all the traders and shop owners at the Oshodi market were to be relocated to the newly built Isopakodowo Market, about 500 metres away at Bolade, Oshodi.
The commissioner added: “The Owonifari loop will be transformed into an ultra modern bus terminus with new bus shelters befitting of a structured park in a mega city like Lagos.”
Some of the traders, however, countered government’s claim. They told the reporter that there were controversies surrounding the said new building. According to the traders who said they recorded substantial losses as a result of the demolition, nobody had been allotted a space at the new market. They said the number of shops at the Isopakodowo market were beyond what were available at the demolished Owonifari section.
While the demolition was done in the dead of the night, Daily Sun gathered that some traders rushed to the place to salvage some of their goods. They were, however, prevented from retrieving the goods by the gun-wielding security personnel that watched over the demolition exercise.
It was learnt that some of the traders, who travelled to their home states for the Christmas and New Year holidays were still savouring the fun in their hometowns when they were informed on the telephone that their shops were being demolished.
Mr. Edwin Nwosu, who had two shops, ED23 and 25 at the market, told Daily Sun that he had been trading at the market since 1983, and had invested hugely in the market.
“I lost so many goods in there, though I was able to remove some of the goods before they demolished the market. When the market was sealed last Saturday night, none of us could enter the place any longer to retrieve our goods. I will say that the government is insensitive to our plights.
“Nobody is saying that they should not use the space for other purpose, but destroying our goods alongside the building amount to wickedness on the part of the government. This is a very big market of over 2, 000 shops, so, taking such decision ought to have been carefully done without hurting us much.
“They are sending us out without making adequate preparations for where we are going to continue our business. I don’t have a place to even sell the little goods I rescue from the demolished shops. This is a very harsh way to begin a new year in Lagos. That is the market where we have been earning our living for so many years.
“Again, the government is not truthful about the place it said it had relocated us to, because there are so many issues surrounding the place.
“The leaders of our association met with the governor, but negotiations were still on when bulldozers came to level the entire place. This is democracy; l believe things should be done properly, considering the people that would be affected,” Nwosu said.
Also lamenting, Mr Sunday, who repaired electronics, said: “Before now, we have heard that the government would demolish the market, but this very one that led to the demolition started around November last year. Government officials came and invited leaders of the market for a series of meetings. Our chairman was shocked when they told him that the market had been relocated. He told them he was not aware of the development.
“The place the government apportioned to us is characterised by a lot of problems. One of the buildings in the proposed market once collapsed. The very building affected other buildings there. The government ordered the contractors to rebuild the market to standard, but the market has not been rebuilt till date. They only reconstructed the collapsed building.
“That place is also very small; it cannot contain all of us from the former market. We pleaded with the government to consider those things and give us adequate time to resettle and to also give us an ideal place. But what we saw this morning was to bring our shops down.
“Another problem is that the people selling planks at the new space are protesting that they can never vacate the market for us. There was also time the indigenes of the place drove the construction workers away. As I talk to you now, none of the traders in this market has a space in the new market. So, how can we continue our trade?”
Albert Obileme, another trader, sold musical equipment at the market. He said his friend who stays around Oshodi called him in the night that the demolition was on. He said when he rushed to the place; the heavy security men prevented him from gaining access to his shop to evacuate his goods. He lamented that he lost over N4 million worth of goods. Though he heard of government’s plans to take over the space, he said he never knew that there would not be sufficient notice for the traders. According to him, he lost everything to the demolition.
Obiwuru is another shop owner at the market. But he said he was quick to remove most of his goods from the market before the government sealed it up.
When our correspondent visited the market yesterday, demolition of the market was still on. The rubble of the demolished market as well as some trapped goods were already being evacuated, even as scores of heavily armed policemen paraded the area.
Source: Daily Sun
No comments:
Post a Comment