Lagos threatens to shut markets where traders display wares on the road

The Lagos state government has threatened to shut markets where traders display their wares on the road.

Akinwunmi Ambode, governor of the state, said this at a meeting with market leaders of Agbado Oke-Odo market.

He said his administration would no longer condone the “illegal activities” of the traders.

Represented by Tunji Bello, secretary to the state government, Ambode said the traders who were in the habit of dumping their refuse on the road were causing environmental and health hazards.

“The traders have blocked the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway to the extent that even the contractors working there don’t have place to work because they have taken over the area,” he said.

“They cause a lot of traffic gridlock and people coming from Ota or from Abule Egba don’t have the road to connect other areas of the state. We have warned them consistently but we are yet to get any result. That is why we have summoned today’s meeting.

“The meeting is basically to call them to order and give them the last warning. The idea initially was to shut down the market today but the governor decided that we should give them just one week to put things in order

“What we are saying is that the government is not interested in shutting down any market because of the economic implication on the people who have to survive and live.

“As a government, we are not interested in shutting down business enterprises and all that, but if it is constituting menace and inconveniencing other people, we will have no choice than to wield the big stick, and that is why we are giving the market leaders the last warning to go and re-order their market.

“The leaders of the market must sit up and look at how to help government because we cannot say because we are trading, we should inconvenience people who go to work from Abule Egba to Lagos Island for instance and to other places and they have to spend hours on that road just because of the activities of the traders.

“Apart from that, we have a lot of filth on the road because the market people just dump their refuse on the road. We don’t want that anymore and that is why we are giving this last warning. We don’t want anybody on the road again and whatever we have to do internally as a government, we will not hesitate to do. We will send task force and the men of the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) to the place to ensure sanity.

“This warning to Agbado Oke-Odo traders also applies to other markets in the state. Any market where their traders are blocking the road and constituting menace to others will be shut down until further notice.”