Daily Independent Online.
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Thursday, July 08, 2004.
Ladipo traders promise to comply with govt
order
By Stella Odueme,
Reporter, Lagos.
Ladipo market, one of the largest commercial centres
for motor and spare parts in the country, has reiterated its commitment to
comply with the memorandum of understanding, reached with the Lagos State
government to prevent a reoccurrence of
its recent closure.
Speaking with Daily Independent in Lagos, the president of Ladipo
Auto Central Executive Committee (LACEC), Mr Humphery Obiwulu, said plans were
already in place to execute the memorandum of understanding arrived at before
the state government agreed to reopen the market, which was shut down recently.
He explained that the Central Committee had put
arrangement in place to ensure that indiscriminate dumping of refuse was a
thing of the past in the market. In ensuring adequate compliance from traders,
the Committee has been using cart pushers authorised by Mushin Local Government
to remove all the wastes generated from the market.
According to him, the committee has also made moves
to maintain the one parking slot agreed on by Lagos State Environmental
Protection Agency (LASEPA) and Lagos state government. “All the areas
where we had agreement, we are working on them to prevent any misunderstanding
so that the market would continue to operate for the interest of traders and
the generality of Nigerians who depend on it for survival”, he said.
While the market may not be as clean as would have
been expected, he said that his committee was doing everything possible to
improve on the situation, adding that they have been receiving commendations
from the public on their efforts so far.
He lamented that there was a setback in fulfilling
the memorandum of understanding, as a result of misunderstanding with the
Mushin local government in the area initially agreed on with the state
government that one side of the road be used for parking, while the other side
would be free to create room for free flow of traffic.
“However, to our dismay, we found that the
signpost of Mushin local government on the area which we discovered had been
awarded to contractors who now used it as their parking space” he said.
According to him, this would bring back initial
problems such as traffic congestion, which had been headaches for the traders,
adding that Mushin local government, had converted the area to means of
generating revenue.
He said that Central Committee was already dialoguing
with the local government, explaining that the outcome would determine the next
action to be taken.
He added that if the decision as not in their favour,
they would have to take the matter to the state government because the area
under dispute was part of the agenda on the memoranda of understanding signed
by both parties.
On the menace of street trading, Obiwulu said that it
was already on the decline with provision of a temporary arrangement for street
traders at the new market under development, which we believed, would
accommodate them at the end.
