***Ultra-Modern Markets In Lagos State, At What Cost?
Lukmon Akintola
Lagos
In times past, a typical Nigerian market would be described as any designated place where people gather to sell their wares regardless of its beauty or architectural outlook.
This is the market which a lot of people have come to know, as they are scattered in all the nooks and crannies of the country.
In Lagos State, markets like Yaba, Oshodi, Oyingbo, Mile 12, Idumota, Sandgross, Ikorodu, Agege and several others are popular. These ancient markets, in most areas of Yoruba land in the south west, Nigeria, operated on a four-day basis and the traders were largely from the rural communities who bring their farm produce and other wares to sell to the city dwellers.
However, in recent years, the reverse has been the case as the markets have assumed all sorts of status. Most critics, however, have attributed this fallout to those in charge of running the affairs of the markets, the Lagos State Government and the Lagos State Market Board.
Markets of all sorts have been springing up replacing the ancient ones, in a bid to modernise the segment. There are the huge complexes housing pockets of shops with modern setting for merchandise. Some of the shopping malls, which are considered a selling point for all sorts from electronic appliances to preserved food stuffs and indeed clothes among other items, also have space for recreation. Some serve as fun spot due to the other essentials in such markets including night clubs.
Asides these set, there are also other markets which are built in form of semi-modern shops. Yet, there are more popular ultra-modern markets described by a lot of people as unique and purposely-built shops for the rich. These exquisite markets are described as such because they host the most expensive set of shops and have been alleged to be often built and secretly sold to buyers mostly politicians, party stalwarts, chieftains and generally people of influence. This is what is obtainable in Lagos State. Having bought the shops in the market the afore-mentioned individuals subsequently either resell or lease to interested parties. This is why it is common to find people boasting and bragging of owning two or more shops at Idumota market and several other places. Ever heard of a market meant for the rich, in recent years, these kinds of markets are fast becoming popular.
They are the magnificent buildings which have been replacing old markets in Lagos State. They are called the ultra-modern markets, coming mostly in form of complexes.
A case in point is the Oyingbo ultra-modern market, which was launched in 2015, 24 years after it was demolished for reconstruction. This four-floor massive complex market sits on a 544-square metre. Estimated to have been built at the cost of N1billion, it boasts of the following: 622 open shops; 102 lockup shops; 48 open offices, 134 toilets; six exit gates and 150-car capacity parking lot on the ground floor.
Another is the Tejuosho market located along the Ojuelegba-Itire Road, Yaba, Lagos State. Commissioned in 2014, it was rebuilt to its present state after most of it was gutted by fire from electricity related issues seven years ago. The old Tejuosho market is described by Wikipedia as a middle class conventional market where commodities were sold at a cut-price.
However, the new Tejuosho market, boasts of over 1,692 shops on four floors, 342 Kee Klamps, children’s area, food court, bar/lounge, promotion courts, advertising space, a massive underground parking lot for more than 350 vehicles, 24-hour power supply with standby generators, police/fire station, waste management, and round-the-clock-security.
Shockingly, this new edifice can be likened to a ghost mall as it is scantily occupied predominantly by retailers.
According to Wikipedia, the hike in price of stalls after the markets were reconstructed left operators who earn relatively low-income complaining.
Wikipedia’s view is reinforced by the statements of an anonymous trader who is of the opinion that Tejuosho Ultra Modern Market commissioned in 2014, has not been fully occupied by the traders due to high cost.
The old Alade Market, which was demolished despite outcry by original owners of the shops who earned their living there, is awaiting reconstruction. Another trader in the ultra-modern market complex has been quick to say that its story won’t be any different from what happened at Oyingbo and Tejuosho markets.
For some, the advent of these new markets is a welcome development, as it radiates the air of urbanity and also embraces development. It also provides a solution to all the problems that had been earlier identified after the old market were built. With the new ultra-modern markets, issues such as car parks and others are forgone challenges, as the new market returns with exclusive parking spaces and other facilities. But that is all that is good about the huge complexes.
For others, however, this development is akin to taking away the means of survival of the average individuals who depend on the typical markets to make a living.
This is why some people have criticised the spring up of several of these new ultra-modern markets in Lagos State, a move which does not seems to care about those who can’t afford the new market.
The consequences of the emergence of the new ultra-markets are that former owners lose their shops, as they simply can’t afford it anymore when they are reconstructed.
Reacting to the demolition of some shops at Rauf Aregbesola Modern Market in Iyana-Ipaja, Lagos State by officials of the Alimosho Local Government, a trader Mrs. Ajose Laoye, described the situation with a teary eye. According to her, “This is the height of impunity, it is madness, there was no notice, we got to the market to see this. If we were given notice, one or two occupants among 100 shop owners would have packed out. Each of us bought his or her shop with huge amounts of money from one of the past administrations of the local government. ”
Similarly, Mrs. Bukola Alao, another trader in the market, said that “the officials of the council came to the market early in the day to paste notices of demolition. Immediately they had done that, they began to demolish after taking the photographs of the pasted notices,” Alao said. Alao, however, described the officials as ‘narrow-minded and wicked’.
The statements by the traders highlights the kind of pains people who lose their shops in a bid for better and more attractive market go through, as the local government was poised to build a two-story building before it stopped by town planners from the state Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development.
Interestingly, the government has been indicted in some of the fire incidents that have seen some of these markets razed to the ground, as a trader who chose to remain anonymous alleged that often times in a bid to compel them to buy shops from the new ultra-modern market, they raze what is left of the older market or what those who can’t afford the new market make do with to make ends meet.
Although the concept of the new market had been in existence as far back as when Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu was Governor of Lagos State and the late Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, Iyaloja of Lagos State, it seems to have become more popular with the emergence of Chief (Mrs.) Folashade Tinubu-Ojo as the new Iyaloja of Lagos in 2013.
With the arrival of the new leader of the markets in Lagos State, came new laws and order, amidst controversies traders in the various markets. Majorly, the fact that Tinubu-Ojo had automatically replaced her grandmother the deceased Mogaji was frowned at. Tinubo-Ojo’s reign, has seen the construction of more ultra-modern markets in Lagos State. It has seen typical markets made more presentable.
The Sandgross Market was demolished with plans to be replaced with a more magnificent complex, one that will even have a cinema.
While the development has improved the outlook of these markets, it has been at a cost, and those who have paid the cost are the petty traders who laid their wares in small corners to earn a living. Another set of people who also bear the pains of these new markets are people a little up in the cadre of the market arrangement, those with shop occupying little spaces.
These set of individuals have been pushed out of their old shops and sent into the streets hawking. They have also not been helped by the Lagos State Government, which has outlawed street trading in the state via its Street Trading and Illegal Market Prohibition Law enacted in 2003, prohibiting street trading and hawking, with a provision of a fine of N90,000 or a six-month jail term for both buyer and seller.
Hence, individuals such as Alex Omotehinse, the Lagos State Branch Chairman of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), have been quoted criticising the State government’s law.
In his words, Omotehinse described the law as obnoxious and unpopular. According to him, people disobey the law due to the fact that the disadvantages are more than the advantages.
However, amidst the hardship to the poor traders is another phase which has attracted attention, the fact that most of the new ultra-modern markets have remained unoccupied for years.
From the Tejuosho Market to Ipaja Market, the story is the same, as they have simply failed to find patronage. A visit to both the Main Tejuosho Market and the Ultra-Modern Tejuosho Market revealed shops yet unoccupied years after the market was reopened.
While the general impression when these shops are found empty is to assume that they have not been sold, findings have revealed that those who have shown interest in acquiring them have been either frustrated or simply told that there are no registration forms available.
As it is, more and more ultra-modern markets are set to spring up, but at what cost?
The cries and howling of the average businessman who is seeking a deviation from petroleum-related business is not being heard, as the interest of the Lagos State Government and its Market Board seems geared towards setting up more ghost complexes like the Tejuosho Market.
Presently, the question of how long this drama will continue is a major talking point in markets, as observers wonder when the average shop owners will stop losing their shops in the name of ultra-modern markets which very few small and startup business owners can afford.
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