Alaba Rago, a popular food, livestock and scrap metal market in the Ojo area of Lagos State, has continued to boom days after officials of the state government task force pulled down a section of the over 47-year-old market.
Our correspondents who visited the market learnt that buyers still find the market attractive despite the dangers of infection from the stench oozing from the dung hills.
The market which never goes to sleep daily sees hundreds of scavengers as well as traders milling round buying and selling one item or the other, amid the debris left from what was once the wooden sharks used as stores.
The debris are from the ruins from what is left from the demolition of the market by the state government officials under the watchful eyes of chairman, Shola Jejeloye.
From the road side, bags of rice, beans, heaps of scrap iron, used furniture, adorn sidewalks. From the trading activities, the place is indeed a goldmine to sell and live in.
Ironically, the market is now made more popular owing to the fact that food bills are rising through the roof and households are now running short of stocks.
Interestingly, both the rich and the poor now find solace in the market as varieties of goods are sold cheap.
Our correspondents report that several truckloads of 50kg bags of rice, beans, grains and hundreds of livestock are off-loaded daily.
The market has also evolved over the last 47 years into a huge food and livestock market, not because of the ram market, which only peaks at religious festive periods, but because restaurant owners now buy cheap meat from the place.
Artisans, too, make their purchases here as used knots, bolts, spanners, tyre jacks, bottles, plastic of all sorts, iron, metals, roofing sheets, furniture of all kinds, generators, bicycles and even recycled food items are sold.
But things may soon fall apart if care is not taken as the state government seems determined to develop the market into a more modern and organised place.
The Lagos State Taskforce, said the demolition was to remove shanties and illegal structures in the market.
Chairman of the State Taskforce said the fresh removal notice came after a previous notice was served to the occupants on May 19, 2022.
Jejeloye described the state of the market as deplorable and not fit for human occupancy.
We are coping with the situation – Traders
Some traders who spoke to our correspondents said they found the market interesting despite the stench from cow dung.
Alhaja Salawu Tanko, a rice dealer, told our correspondents that she came all the way from Osun State to make her purchase.
“I buy and sell rice. It is cheaper to buy here than other markers. I want to take advantage of the high demand ahead of the Sallah festival to stock my shop.
“However, I was surprised to see that part of the rice and beans section of the market had been demolished. This might affect prices as a good number of traders buy from here,” she said.
Shade Salami who sells soya beans said she travelled all the way from Epe to Alaba to make her purchase.
“I get them cheap and in perfect condition. I also buy dried cassava, wheat, and dried plantain with which I grind to make different types of flour,” she said.
For Rotimi Ojo, as a technician, the market offers him varieties of cheap electronic parts.
“I repair generators and I can get whatever part needed for the repairs of a faulty generating set in the market. I do not need to go far as most of the things I need are gotten from condemned ones,’’ he said.
Alhaji Tanimu Bulama, Wazirin Sarkin Kasuwa Alaba Rago (Deputy Sarkin Kasuwa), and Baba Loja Alaba Rago, who gave a history of the market said the traders were initially at Alaka in Surulere from where they were relocated to Alaba Suru by the state government in the 70s.
He said from there they moved to their current location about 47 years ago with the help of the then state government.
“We were told then that the place we occupied earlier was a market place but under the ownership of private individuals, that was why we were brought to Alaba Rago by the then military regime led by General Olusegun Obasanjo, that is around 1979.
“Right from the time they brought us here we used our hands and resources to build the market. The entire area was bushy. That is why most of the shop owners got their shops through inheritance, as most of those who built them are late and their children inherited the shops.
“Though the majority of the people in the market are from the North, the market is just like a mini-Africa as one will find Nigerians as well as other Africans doing their businesses,” he said.
He said news of the rebuilding of the market first filtered into their ears when President Bola Tinubu was the governor of Lagos.
He said the matter later died down but resurfaced when Babatunde Fashola and Ambode were governors.
“Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has had several meetings with us regarding plans to rebuild the market. He, however, asked if he can rebuild it for us or we can do it on our own. We told him to give us the grace of one week to meet our people and discuss the matter with them.
“After we contacted the traders, we went back to the governor and told him that we could rebuild the market, as we have contractors who could do that for us. Then there was one contractor who was putting pressure on us to do the work, so the governor told him to pull out.
“The governor told the contractor that the markets belong to the Arewa people, hence he should allow us to get a contractor of our choice. It is the same man that came back recently to demolish our market without notice.
“We set up a 15-man committee and names of members were taken. We snapped pictures, the governor then asked us to get our plan and take it to him; if it was in line with his standard, he would accept it but if not he would correct it for us or he would give us his own plan. We all agreed on that, but surprisingly demolition started as we were about to take the plan to the governor.
“There is nothing we can do but to plead with the governor to consider us. We have always complied with the state government’s directives since 1999 when democracy started in Nigeria.
“We the people of Alaba Rago market are always with the state government. We have never gone against them, since the time of Asiwaju, to Fashola, Ambode and Sanwo-Olu. We are pleading with the governor to allow us to rebuild the market.
“Our fear is that the market might be taken away from us because of the powerful interest. We have laboured for a very long time, and we believe that the governor will show us mercy,” he said.
Bulama urged those who lost their shops and valuables to be patient, insisting that God will be there for them.
He also urged the leaders of various sections in the market to be cooperative and work together towards rebuilding the market for their own benefit and that of Lagos State and Nigeria as whole.
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