Estate Gate traders fear imminent removal
By Olushola Okewole
The of the Lagos Building Investment Company (LBIC) to remove traders selling wares illegally at the gate of the Low Cost Housing Estate has spread panic among them.
In a frantic effort to justify their stay, the traders alleged that they have been paying for tickets sold to them by persons claiming to represent the Ejigbo LCDA, adding that the landowners also collect dues from them for using the space.
The authorities of the LCDA has denied authorizing the market or the collection of any levies.
One of the market leaders, Mr. Abiodun Oladokun, explained to ECHONEWS that though they have been seeking state government’s approval for the past five years, the market is yet to be legalised by the government due to some factors despite the fact that they follow all the guidelines given to them.
Oladokun, however, claimed that the traders were not using the space illegally as market for commercial activities, emphasising that they pay to the landowners for using the space.
According to him, each trader pay between N8,000 and N10,000 depending on the size of the space occupied, adding that the payment is renewed every three months.
According to him, the market is the main place where many are selling to make livelihood to feed their families and cater for other things, removing them from the market is like subjecting them to avoidable sufferings.
“If they are chased out of the market, many lives and families will be stranded,” he said.
The market leader said the traders in the market have been maintaining their space and do not sell on the road side.
The land is owned by the family of late Arch. Bishop Peter Fabusoro, the former chairman of Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Ejigbo chapter and the founder of The Salvation Church of Lord Int’l, Estate Ejigbo.
When contacted, his son, Mr. Sesan Fabusoro told ECHONEWS that the land was not really planned for market initially, explaining that the market came up when commuter buses started picking and dropping passengers.
He disclosed that his father actually sold the portion used as filling station presently because he already had the plan for building filling station on the land.
He noted that when population of the people selling on the land kept increasing, his family members could not pursue them unless they were ready to use the land, “so they decided to be collecting some amount from the traders and that’s how it started.”
Meanwhile, Fabusoro revealed that there is plan to develop the land to a commercial hub and shopping complex. “It is not going to be a market but a commercial hub,” he stressed.
