The Ogun State Government has ordered traders at the popular Kara Market in Isheri a 100-day ultimatum to relocate to the Ogere International Market along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
The government said the ultimatum, which would expire on December 31, was to allow for their phased movement as the market would cease to exist in that location.
In announcing the relocation order, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Dr Sam Olugbenga Oyeleye, said the state government decided to relocate the market to restore sanity due to the environmental degradation going on in the market which was situated on its border with Lagos State.
He said the state government was daily inundated with reports of unhealthy disposal of waste and other environmental nuisances from the market, as well as open defecation on the median and roads, despite provision of public toilets provided by the government.
He further said, “The state government will, therefore, not fold its hands and watch few individuals in the name of trading deface the environment and spread communicable diseases to millions of residents through open defecation which they have failed to stop despite several sensitisation, appeals and arrests.
“Their bad attitude which constitutes an eyesore is also not in tandem with the state government’s policy of attracting investors to the state as the nation’s industrial hub. Hence the need to relocate the market for the general good of the state.”
Oyeleye added that the Kara Market had outlived its usefulness in that axis as it had been overstretched with no space for expansion and proper management.
He assured the cow sellers and other traders of adequate security and warm welcome from their new host community, adding that their movement would be in phases starting from the movement of their cattle to the closing of the abattoir at Kara to the final movement of other traders.
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