Alaba Market Traders Kick Against Plan By Lagos State Government To Demolish Secretariat For Chinese-Affiliated Project
In July, the Lagos State Government started removing “distressed” buildings in the market with the help of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) and the Lagos State Task Force.
The members of a trade union under the aegis of Fedzan Furniture LTD in Alaba Market International Market, Lagos State have raised the alarm over a plot by the
Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) to demolish a building which served as their administrative block and secretariat to pave way for a Chinese-affiliated company.
In July, the Lagos State Government started removing “distressed” buildings in the market with the help of the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA) and the Lagos State Task Force.
Mr. Gbolahan Oki, General Manager of LASBCA had said the government took this decision to save lives because the buildings were unfit for human habitation.
One of the aggrieved traders who spoke to SaharaReporters explained that some buildings were earlier marked for demolition in the market for the ultra-modern projects set to be carried out by the Chinese company.
However, the company went back to the Lagos State Building Control Agency to insist that the traders’ administrative block should also be included during the demolition exercise.
The trader said, “There is this Chinese company at the back of my secretariat, and that secretariat is where we normally have our union meeting. Where we normally welcome the governor or any corporate organisation that wants to come and visit us. That is our secretariat. That is where we take decisions; that is where we conduct elections. That is where we hold meetings. That is our task force, that is our administrative block. So there is this company that came, they are affiliated with China. They said they want to build an ultra-modern market and they say they want to build ultra-modern motorpark.”
The trader revealed further that the step to demolish some of the buildings inside market had made the owners of the targeted properties to drag the government to court.
He continued: “They want to local government. Local government now gave them C of O, they now say they have land there where they want to build all those things on. The owner of those things (lands and shops) now came and started fighting them to the extent that they went to Abuja, They went to the taskforce Headquarters; after Abuja, they now went to court; they are still in court as I am talking to you.
Now, they went to LASBCA and gave them a huge amount of money for them to come and say that some of the buildings that had been there before the arrival of these people were in a very bad condition for them to put it down and reclaim it for that purpose in which they came there. That is exactly what is happening now. The local government chairman is aware of what I am talking about.
“They have been on this issue, even the “Omo Onile” who sold some of the lands to these people that build plazas and shops have come and let them know that the lands belong to them. These people have Omo Onile receipts and the majority of these shops have allocations with local government.”
The traders’ leader added that the company did not stop at the land allotted to them; they decided to manipulate state agencies and security operatives to ensure the administrative block is also included in the demolition exercise.
He continued: “When they came, I thought the land there would be enough for them. If you go there now, you will see their excavating caterpillars there, excavating the dustbin; the bin is filled because that place is a swampy area. You will see a high heap there. These are the people they want to claim those places for. I don’t know why they should be doing this to Alaba International Market, being one of the biggest markets in West Africa?
“Let the stakeholders come and let us see the C of O, let us see the survey plan they did, let us see the buildings that were affected. Let us know if it can work or not. Since all this time they have been doing this, the secretariat was not included, but to my greatest surprise, early last year, they started marking our secretariat, start marking other buildings there. Last week, they came there with quite a number of policemen, mobile policemen, more than 50. Yesterday again they came with over 100 policemen, putting fear in the minds of our members, creating tension, creating problem.”