Mixed Feelings Over Plan To Shut 3 Markets In Lagos

Some traders in Lagos on Wednesday expressed mixed feelings over the plan by the Lagos State Government to close down three markets in the state due to poor sanitary conditions.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the affected markets are the Ladipo Auto Spare Parts Market at Oshodi, the Mushin Market and the Cele Market on the Apapa-Oworonsoki expressway.

In separate interviews with NAN, some traders at the Ladipo Market blamed their misfortune on negligence of the local government.

“The council chairman should, therefore, be held responsible for the problems we face at the market.

“He did not show adequate concern on the restoration of the access road to the market,” a market official said on condition of anonymity.

Mr. Ejima Okafor, a spare parts dealer, said the major problem in the market was the poor state of the road, which according to him, had prevented the waste management operators from calling regularly to pick up refuse.

Okafor said that it was necessary to keep the market clean because it was the largest market for auto spare parts in the state.

He said that closing the market would compound issues and increase the crime rate in Lagos.

Okafor, therefore, pleaded with the State Government to give the traders more time to clean up the market.

He urged LAWMA to dedicate more trucks to the market to enable the traders to clean up their stalls regularly.

Mr. Mike Udobi, another dealer in spare parts, called for urgent repair of the roads to enable LAWMA have access to refuse bins at the market.

Some traders at the Mushin and Cele markets blamed meat sellers for the poor sanitary conditions at the markets, saying that the meat sellers were not disposing off animal wastes hygienically.

A customer, Mrs. Ngozi Uguyi, however, expressed support for the planned closure, saying that the closure would make the traders to begin to take their responsibility of cleaning the markets seriously.

She said that places where food items were being sold ought to be kept clean and under the regular supervision of sanitation officers.