The authorities of Amuwo Odofin Local Government have unveiled the reason for the demolition exercise that was carried out on the Oyinlola Olorunda Market in Festac Town, Lagos State, on Saturday.
The explanation given by the council management came on the heels of expectations and agitations by some uninformed residents of the town, at least to set the record straight once and for all.
The council management assured all residents of Amuwo Odofin Local Government, especially the market owners, of equitable justice in the re- allocation exercise when a modern market with a conducive environment will be built on or before April 2021.
Before now, the council management had followed due process before embarking on the demolition exercise. So, there is no cause for the alarm!
It would be recalled that a committee was set up five months ago and members of the committee had been meeting with the market leaders and owners to allay their fears.
So, due process was adequately followed by calling the market stakeholders and owners for a meeting and also Amuwo Odofin Local Government wrote the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs which prompted the Commissioner for Local and Community Affairs, Dr Wale Ahmed, to inspect the situation of things in the market before giving approval for the demolition.
As the name suggests, the market is called Oyinlola Olorunda Market but to the dismay of the Honourable Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs during the inspection, he met a residential cum market which does not follow the Lagos State Market Regulations (LSMR.)
He also witnessed soaked cloths and under wears, hanged on the doors of several locked shops with the owners not available. It became more worrisome to have encountered spreading of some newly washed cloths on locally manufactured wires and poles, ready to be dried in the sun like an abandoned hostel.
The market has since been converted to a housing estate.
A non- destructive integrity laboratory test was conducted on the market by the Lagos State Government and the result confirmed that the place is not conducive for business activities, having failed the integrity test and there are official documents to prove that.
All manners of people are living there and selling varying degrees of illicit drugs.
People are not safe, doing business there.
Once they hear that there will be development at a place, they wont yield on time.
The government assures all residents and business owners in the market that within three to four months, another structure will be there and the original allottees will be considered before the new ones.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs, Lagos State had already informed the Managing Director of the Federal Housing Authority, FHA, Senator Gbenga Ashafa before the demolition exercise was carried out.
After holding meetings with the market leaders since four or five months ago, with the official letters that followed subsequently and having waited for all stakeholders involved to be fully informed and carried along, December is not out of place to have carried out the demolition exercise with a projection of three or four months to deliver a new Ultra- Modern Festac Market to the people.
SIGNED:
MANAGEMENT