Traders in the popular Alaba Rago International Market in Lagos have rejected the planned development of the market by the authorities of Iba Local Council Development Area (LCDA).
Our correspondent reports that the plan by the LCDA to develop the market had generated tension and mixed feelings among traders in the market.
A stakeholders’ meeting called this week by the LCDA authorities ended in a stalemate as leaders and stakeholders of the market rejected the planned development.
Daily Trust reports that the market is predominantly populated by the Hausa people though there are other non-Hausa traders selling all kinds of items in the market.
The Hausa traders told the LCDA authorities to allow them continue the development of the market as they had been doing in the last 40 years.
Serikin Hausawa of the market, Alhaji Mustapha Sokoto, asked the council to hand over the development plan to them which they would carry out according to specifications.
He expressed fears that most of the traders would not be able to afford shops if the market should be demolished and new set of structures erected.
Spokesman of the Hausa traders, Alhaji Adamu Katagum, stressed that the Hausa traders had settled for decades in the market and invested heavily in the development of the market.
He said: “We have been developing this place for a long time and we would not stop developing it. What we want is for the LCDA to hand over the development plan to us and we would follow the plan to the latter.”
Chairman of Iba LCDA, Mrs. Rahmat Rachael Oseni, who made a presentation of the 3-D plan for Alaba Rago market, said her predecessors started the project to give the market a facelift.
She said the time had come for the council to develop the market and solicited the cooperation of traders even as she assured that shops would be affordable to the traders in the new market being proposed.
But the presentation by the chairman did not convince the Hausa traders who insisted they had the money to develop the market.
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