Oshodi Demolition: Lagos State Govt denies destruction of goods, says New Ultra- Modern Market given for N5,000 monthly

The Lagos State Government on Thursday, January 7,
defended the relocation of traders plying their trade in
Owonifari Market within the notorious loop of Oshodi to the
newly built ultra-modern Isopakodowo Market in Bolade-
Oshodi, saying the action was taken in the overall interest of
public good, safety and security.
Speaking during a joint press briefing addressed by the
State’s Ministries of Information and Strategy, The
Environment, Physical Planning and Urban Development,
Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, and the Office of
Civic Engagement, the Government said it constructed an
alternative market stall for the traders which can conveniently
accommodate over 600 shops and hundreds of kee Clamps,
and agreed to subsidize payment by giving shops at the new
market at a monthly give away price of N5, 000.
Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve
Ayorinde said the traders were adequately notified before the
exercise took place as required by law, and that government
engaged with the leadership of the market severally before
carrying out the demolition exercise on Owonifari Market.
While clarifying issues on the demolition which took place on
January 5, 2016, Ayorinde said it was important for people to
note that the issue of the market had been on for nothing less
than ten years, adding that government had been engaging
the leadership of the market to make them realize that it could
no longer continue in the manner in which the market was
being used.
He said unfortunately, the leadership of the market, in the last
three years, refused to move despite the fact that the new
market has over 600 shops apart from the kee clamps which
takes the number of people that the market could conveniently
accommodate to over a thousand all together.
Ayorinde said having been satisfied that government had
provided a befitting alternative, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode
through the Commissioner for Local Government and
Community Affairs, invited the leadership of the market to the
Executive Chambers and met with them on December 16,
2015, where he reiterated his plans for Oshodi and the need
to move the traders to Isopakodowo which as at that time
had been ready for a couple of years.
"A few of them expressed certain misgivings but
largely they felt that if their interest would be
accommodated within the Isopakodowo Market, that
they were willing and ready to move and on our part,
we said that the discussion should be ongoing
particularly regarding how much they would pay for
each store within that market," the Commissioner
said.
"After that, on Monday December 21, 2015, Governor
Ambode went on a tour of that market area
particularly at Isopakodowo in company with a few
members of the Exco. Again, we met with the
leadership of the market where it was eventually
agreed based on the proposition by the leadership that
what they were willing to pay for each shop at
Isopakodowo was N5, 000.
"There is nowhere in Lagos where you will agree to be
paying N5, 000 per shop not to talk of the central
Oshodi, but the Governor agreed with them and we
said we were ready to concede after which we now
formally served them with a quit notice through the
office of the Commissioner for Physical Planning and
Urban Development," he said.
Speaking further, Ayorinde denied allegation that many goods
of the traders were destroyed in the demolition exercise,
adding that such was far from the truth.
"The intention of government certainly was not to
destroy any goods and we did not destroy any goods
because we believe that a good number of the traders,
if not all, had moved because they were aware that
they needed to move.
"Government, I should say, will not be blackmailed
because we had done everything humanly possible and
you know that the hallmark of this government has
been compassion. It is a compassionate government.
"The intention was not to destroy the market or
destroy properties or to make life inconvenient for
them. We believe very strongly that Isopakodowo
market is quite ideal; its a lot bigger store-per-store
than where they had been removed now and the aim
of government, as we stated earlier, is to ensure that
that area of the market conforms with the type of
image that we want Lagos to be, which is to return
sanity to the place, to beautify the market, to construct
a world class bus terminus around that place and to
ensure that people who use that place on a daily basis
– the commuters, traders, everybody enjoy what it
means to go to a market in a mega city.
"We also believe that the exercise will largely reduce
the gridlock that is associated with that area and then
the criminalities that were rampant in that Oshodi.
What we have done is in the interest of the generality
of Lagosians,” Ayorinde said.
"You will see from the reports that quite a good chunk
of the traders acknowledged that they had been
properly served and that they were ready to move
which was why a good number of them, if not all,
parked their things just before the end of last year.
"Along the line, we got intelligence report that during
the holidays there were a number of criminal activities
going on in the market and that the place was
harbouring criminals and a number of untoward
activities which of course necessitated the need to
move immediately to safeguard lives, to safeguard
properties and to ensure that there was no breach of
peace which was what led to the demolition."