Oshodi Returns To Dark Days of Street Trading
. As Traders, Urchins Convert Adjoining Streets Into Make-shift Markets
Lagos State Government appears to be losing the battle to sanitize Oshodi as marketers and street urchins have taken over available spaces following the resurgence of street trading in the area.
Oshodi which is the gateway to the Lagos metropolis from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport has attracted public outcry from concerned residents and stakeholders many of whom have watched helplessly as street traders and motor park touts have virtually converted roads to market extensions and motor garages without recourse to pedestrians and shop owners who pay heavily to own shops in the area.
The Snoop gathered that the growing resurgence of illegal street trading and encroachment across Oshodi-Isolo Local Government has become a ticking time bomb threatening public safety, free movement, and the aesthetic order of one of Lagos State’s most strategic commercial corridors.
Investigations and field observations reveal that most streets within the Oshodi market hub—notably Agege Motor Road (from Bolade Junction), Suwebatu Ajala Street, Araromi, Banjoko, and McCarthy—have been overtaken by traders and transport operators who have converted public roads into makeshift markets, garages, and motor parks.
The disturbing trend, according to sources is allegedly aided by some self-appointed 'authorities' who collect daily tolls and levies to allocate public spaces to traders and transporters. This sad development further raises deep concerns about the usurpation of official authority and gradual territorial take over of public infrastructure by criminally-minded elements in the area.
Aside from the heavy human and vehicular traffic congestion and filthy environment now defining these streets, commuters and residents are losing valuable productive hours to the gridlocks created by this illegal occupation.
Worse still, the median at Agege Motor Road which was originally designed for traffic demarcation has now become an unregulated car park for both private and commercial vehicles which further compound the chaotic situation in the area.
More worrisome is the role of NURTW members, commercial tricycle operators and others who have reportedly converted most of the inner streets into mini motor parks under questionable authority as sources informed our correspondent that these toll collectors usually brandish official toll tickets issued by authorities of Oshodi/Isolo Local Government to officialize their actions.
Residents and other stakeholders in the area are, however, worried that the sad the developments, if left unchecked could precipitate a full-scale urban anarchy and total breakdown of law and order in Oshodi despite the huge investments of Lagos State Government in sanitizing the area through the construction of a modern bus terminus and relocation of adjoining markets from the area.While the Otunba Kehinde Oloyede-led local government administration deserves commendation for its visible achievements in road rehabilitation and infrastructure renewal, it is puzzling that the same roads are now being hijacked by those collecting illegal rents and levies thereby denying the tax-paying public access to facilities built with their own money.
Concerned residents are, however, quick to dismiss the sad development as sheer negligence on the part of the local government authority but rather described it as a betrayal of public trust and a stain o
n the impressive work done by the council administration so far.The prevalence of street trading and illegal conversation of public roads to markets bring to question the poor enforcement of environmental sanitation laws by the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) officers who were permanently stationed to maintain law and order in Oshodi. Multiple sources revealed that the officers have become a major cause of the chaotic situation through their penchance for collecting bribes and gratification from street traders and NURTW members to allow them access to public spaces.
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