The Closure of Ladipo Market
Reports that Ladipo Market has again been closed on the order of Muzi Banire, the. Honorable Commissioner of Environment should not come as a surprise to those who have visited the market of recent.
The closure which was approved by the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, is due among others to the unsanitary condition of the market and the repeated failures of the traders to adhere to the terms of an MOU signed with LSG in 2006.
The MOU was signed after the LSG who had closed the market under similar circumstances hearkened to pleas from well meaning Nigerians and after the traders undertook to address the complaints of government.
I recall Peter Obi, the Governor of Anambra state coming all the way to Lagos to add his voice to those who pleaded with LSG to reopen the market in 2006, but LSG is now asserting that the traders never adhered to the terms of the MOU.
I have not read the terms of the MOU signed between the traders at Ladipo market and LSG, and as such I am not in a position to know the exact responsibilities and obligations of the traders under the terms of the MOU.
What is clear is that between the last closure of the market in 2006, and the recent one, not much lessons have been learnt by the traders with regards to the unsanitary condition of the market.
But then Ladipo market is not just an ordinary market as it is the biggest market for old and new automobile parts along the West Coast, probably excluding Onitsha market although some will debate this fact.
It also provides direct and indirect employment to thousands if not millions of people who throng the market in their daily search for sustenance, or who finance the goods that are available for sale in the market.
Apart from those who are fortunate to have shops in and around the market, there are many others acting as middle men who intercept customers too stressed to navigate the market in search of the best deals.
There are also emergency mechanics and other parts fitters hanging around the market that for an express fee can fit or fix or repair cars with parts bought in the market, a service needed in an environment where trust is in short supply.
Then there are those that come from all over Lagos, other states in Nigeria and the West coast nations to buy car parts, and on the supply side are the importers who bring in the parts from Europe and Asia, financed either by banks or the contributions of others.
More important are the Lagosians, both private and commercial car owners who patronize the used parts section of the market and without which their vehicles are more like mobile coffins.
This is the complex context in which the LSG has taken the decision to close the Ladipo market for a yet undeterminable period of time, a decision whose reverberating impact will be felt in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria and West Africa..
With many of the young men and women earning their living on a daily basis from the Ladipo market, and in a society with no social safety nets for the majority of hard working Nigerians, how are these people going to survive?
In the last few months reports of violent robberies across Lagos have increased and the closure of the market is likely to aggravate the situation especially as Christmas and New Year celebrations are around the corner.
The timing of the closure may push some of the youths who get their daily sustenance from the market into taking desperate actions as millions will be thrown into temporary unemployment worsening an already bad situation.
This does not mean that I condone the actions or in actions of the traders or that I support the unsanitary state of the market. My take is that if closure of the market 2 years ago yielded no improvements the chances of similar action working in 2008 may be slim.
I am concerned about the human implications of the actions of LSG in closing the market although I respect the right of government to take such steps as may address the environmental challenges presented by the market.
The objective of government is to have a market in Ladipo that is kept clean through the efforts of the traders. The million Naira question is how this can this be achieved without resorting to the intermittent closure of the market with its attendant human challenges?
