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Tag: Alade market

  • Alade Market: Tinubu-Ojo supports new development plan

    After a 20-year protracted disagreement between traders and Ikeja Local Government, the structure of old Alade Market yesterday was demolished and its entire land area fenced off.

    The old structure will be giving way for the construction of a $50 million shopping mall.

    The demolition was effected by the market’s concessionaire, Master Reality International Concept Ltd, after the Lagos State Government and the President-General of Association of Commodity Market Women and Men, Chief Folashade Tinubu-Ojo endorsed the shopping mall.

    The demolition put paid to the agitation of some traders under the aegis of Association of Concerned Traders in Alade Market, to scuttle the redevelopment plan, which they said, would create thousands of jobs directly and indirectly.

    At the new market yesterday, Tinubu-Ojo commended the government and the market concessionaire for the N6.9billion redevelopment plan of the market, noting that nobody “can halt the redevelopment of the market.

    “When this was about happening few years ago, my late grand-mother Alhaji Abibatu Mogaji, former Iyaloja-General called a meeting between the officials of the government and the market leadership.

    “At the meeting, Alhaja Mogaji instructed that before the redevelopment a conducive location not far from the old site must be provided for the traders. And all parties agreed,” she added.

    After Alhaja Mogaji’s demise three years ago, Tinubu-Ojo acknowledged that she had “met the traders twice. Also, they visited our secretariat thrice.”

    She said the meetings offered all traders the opportunity “to apply for shops after the market redevelopment. After the meetings, they assured me they accepted the outcome of the meeting. But on arrival at the market, they vowed to approach the court.”

    Tinubu-Ojo, however, said there was no controversy surrounding the project, saying the traders “have started moving to the new site to commence trading. The cost of the shop to the original allotees is N150, 000.

    “But for fresh traders, the price is different. The price for the original allotees was for the purchase of the shop. The specification given to the concessionaire is being met,” she explained.

  • Work begins on N6.9b Alade market six years after

    Work begins on N6.9b Alade market six years after

    Work yesterday began on the proposed N6.9billion Alade Modern Market following the relocation of traders from the old market.

    The project was delayed for six years because of misunderstanding between the traders and the concessionaire, Mr Lai Omotola.

    Addressing reporters on the market’s new site, which is about 100 metres behind the old one, Omotola described the project as the biggest single Public Private Partnership (PPP) project to be handled by any local government in the country. The Shopping Mall and Retail Market is owned by the Ikeja Local Government Area.

    Omotola whose company, Master Realty International Concepts Limited, won the concession in 2011, said the relocation took so long because the firm had to conclude talks with all those against the project.

    He denied allegations that his company flouted a court order, restraining it from going ahead with the construction, adding that the firm did not mobilise hoodlums to the market before the project started.

    Omotola traced the genesis of negotiations with stakeholders to the days of the late Iyaloja-General of Nigeria Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, who in an August 18, 2011 letter urged his company to move the traders to a temporary place, pending the construction of the new market.

    He said his company acquired 6.8 hectares of land behind the old market, and spent about N1.87 billion to provide, among others, 504 shops, 200 Kee Klamps, 20 toilets and three access roads.

    “In the history of market development in Nigeria, there’s never being a situation where a proper market is built before the old one is demolished and we had told all aggrieved persons to scout round for a better location that they could be relocated within Ikeja and no one has been able to come up with better option than what we have on ground,” he said.

    His company, Omotola said, offered the shops for N150, 000, and the Kee Klamps, N50,000.

    “To us, the going rate is at a loss to us but we have resolved that it should be that low to afford everyone an opportunity to own a shop and as part of our own corporate social responsibility. Traders who have fully paid up their rent started moving into the new site two weeks ago,” he said.

    He said when the old market was constructed by the local government in the 70s, it was taken over by respected Nigerians and retired public servants.

    Most of the traders were seen relocating from the old market yesterday. Some of them praised the government for providing them with an alternative close to their old shops.

  • Why we support Alade Market’s relocation, by leader

    Traders at Alade Market support its relocation because the new place is secure and has more parking space, the Iyaloja, Chief Aina Adenuga, has said.

    Speaking when she visited Ikeja Local Government Sole Administrator Mr Abiodun Taiwo last Friday. She thanked Governor Akinwnmi Ambode for his systemic, people-friendly approach towards the relocation of the market.

    She said: “We are happy that government provided a better, bigger and more conducive place for us before asking us to relocate. We are happy coming to the new Alade Market which we see as a movement to our ‘Promised land.”

    Mrs Adenuga told Taiwo that of the 299 bona fide traders in the old Alade market, 250 have collected their allocation papers for the market after paying the N150,000 allocation fee.

    On those protesting the market’s relocation, she said most of them were squatters and those who over the years erected shanties and illegal shops within the market.

    “I cannot understand why a few people who do not have legitimate papers in the market will want to frustrate the good intentions of the government at relocating us to a better and secure place where even our customers will have enough parking space,” she said.

    According to her, the traders are already putting finishing touches to their shops in preparation for the July 18 opening.

    Responding, Taiwo said his administration would listen to anyone who has a genuine case regarding the movement of the market especially if such persons are allottees of the old Alade market.

    He said: “The good thing is that we have more than enough shops to go round both the old traders whom we are obliged to give back their shops in the new location and to sell to new traders.”

    The council chief urged those interested in having a shop in the market to approach the council.

    Taiwo said: “It will be totally unfair for any group to play down government’s good intentions of relocating the old Alade market which has turned into a nuisance around the ever busy Allen Avenue and environs.”

    Explaining the reasons behind government’s determination to move the market to its new site, he said with the mega city status of Ikeja, the old market can no longer stand the test of time. He added that most of the structures in the market failed integrity test, hence the need to pull them down.

    ‘’I wonder how a market like Alade in the heart of Ikeja can function without a car park and having just two units of toilet,” he said.

    The market has 504 lock up shops, 200 units of open stalls, 20 toilets, 350kva and 150kva generators, crèche, three boreholes and a car park that can take up to 350 vehicles at a time, among others.

  • Alade market: traders, govt trade words

    Alade market: traders, govt trade words

    •‘The place built by the concessionaire is inhabitable’
    •Ministry of the Environment approved it’

    The Executive Secretary of Ikeja Local Government Area Adekunle Dally Adeokun yesterday cleared the air on the controversy surrounding the status of Alade Market traders.

    He said there was no truth in the allegation that the council issued a 60-day ultimatum to the traders to move out of the market. According to him, no date has been fixed for the relocation.

    Describing the ultimatum as a “misrepresentation of facts,” Adeokun said at no time did he address a news conference or issue any statement giving the traders  ultimatum to leave the market.

    Adeokun spoke against the heels of yesterday’s protest by the Concerned Traders of Alade Market Men and Women (CTAMW), who alleged that the proposed relocation site is a flooded and swampy plane that is unsuitable for trading.

    Speaking on behalf of the market women, President of the Concerned Traders, Mrs Sulola Odunsi-Dania said the council authority had initially made the move to displace them and demolish the market in 2003, but the state government denied any knowledge of the planned demolition.

    “The truth is that we were not served any notice by the Lagos State Government. It is sad to note that when the state government wants to repossess a particular place, they come up with sundry excuses. The place built by the concessionaire is inhabitable. It is located beside a canal behind the market. You need to see the place. Reptiles and other animals roam about and it is worse during the rainy season,” she lamented.

    Mrs. Odunsi-Dania said they had gone as a group to the Iyaloja General of Lagos State, Mrs Folasade Tinubu-Ojo, who called a meeting of the market women and the concessionaire, Mr Lai Omotola.

    “At the meeting Mr Omotola blatantly said that he had no business with us, to whom the Iyaloja entreated to have proper dialogue with us because we are the ones directly concerned,” she said.

    Legal counsel for the market women Jiti Ogunye, said there were various abnormalities in the way the concessionaire was going about the relocation.

    “These women are stakeholders who pay tax to the government. They can’t just be treated anyhow,” he said.

    Describing the protests as “a storm in a tea cup,” Adeokun said the issue surrounding the relocation is one that would be resolved amicably between the council, the concessionaire and the traders as it is “a family affair.”

    He said what happened in the council on Sunday was the inaugural meeting of the committee members in charge of the relocation and after the meeting, they all agreed to give the concessionaire 60 days to put some things in place at the new site.

    He said: “The committee of 16, which was made up of six members of the traders and five each from the council and the concessionaire, met and resolved that the concessionaire must open up the area and put interlocking paving stones on the floors, and build 100 locked up shops and additional Kee Clamp, build a perimeter fence and fit same with American wire mesh, all of which, he said, the concessionaire promised could be done within 60 days.”

    He said the true position is that after the 60 days, the committee is expected to inspect the site and review the activity of the concessionaire after which all the stakeholders are expected to meet to now negotiate when the traders would eventually move.

    “It is only after the committee has been convinced that the relocation is feasible that any negotiation on the relocation could be contemplated. The traders at the market are our people and we would not do anything to inconvenient anyone,” he noted.

    Adeokun called the cooperation of the market traders in the redevelopment of the market adding that the council will do everything to protect their interest.

    According to him, there was no truth in the allegation that the site is inhabitable because it was cleared for use by the state’s Ministry of the Environment and they are meant to stay there only for 24 months.

    He said most of the shops are being offered at ridiculously low prices and the council is ready to accommodate all irrespective of their status whether legal or illegal tenants of the market. He alleged that while most of the traders rented the shops from the council at N7,200, they reissued same to tenants at fees ranging from N500,000.

    Adeokun said though the initial projection was for the new site to be temporary, but the concessionaire in accommodating the grievances of the traders have had to invest heavily in constructing solid shops, that would be powered by a 350 KVA electricity generating set.

    He said the lawyers to the traders have agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the council and concessionaire on the mode of relocation.

    The concessionaire, Mr Lai Omotola said the company would do everything possible to meet the demands of the traders to facilitate early relocation to enable it commence the contract.

  • Traders, firm in row over Alade market

    A row has broken out over the popular Alade Market in Ikeja, Lagos.

    The traders and the market’s concessionaire yesterday traded words over an alleged attempt to burn down the market.

    The traders under the aegis of Concerned Traders of Alade Market (CTAM) accused the concessionaire of attempting to torch the market.

    But the concessionaire, Master Reality International Concept Ltd (MRIC) denied the allegation, saying those it sent there to take possession of the market for its development were the ones being accused of attempted arson.

    The traders held a protest against a plan to relocate the market from the complex.

    They said government should have made a better alternative arrangement for them before depriving them entrance to the market.

    Some entrances into the complex were locked, with traders deprived access to their shops.

    They alleged that the matter was in court and that the option the government was giving them was not conducive for their operations.

    “Looking at the situation on ground, these people have children and relatives and they feed on these businesses. When you are keeping them out of a shop, you should provide a comfortable place for them.

    “Nobody says you should not develop the market, but look at them…” one of the a sympathisers said.

    Some of the persons in the complex have been there for over 13 years and they are lamenting that they would not get patronage in the new place.

    MRIC’s Managing Director Layi Omotola, an engineer, said his company had signed a 30-year agreement with the Ikeja Local Government Area to turn the market into an ultra modern shopping mall on a Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) platform.

    According to him, attempts in the last five years to take possession of the market have frustrated the traders.

    His firm, he said, had developed close to two hectares of land behind the present market and built about 194 shops for the traders’ use.

    “Yet these traders had insisted they won’t move, alleging that the place is inhabitable. We have addressed all their concerns and officials of the Ministry of Urban Development and Planning has approved our intervention, yet, only eight of the traders have paid for shop in the new place in five years.”

    He said his firm is under pressure to begin the project because of the expiration on July 31, of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s directive to banks to publish the names of their debtors.

    According to him, while interest on the N9.6 billion bank loan for the development of the market has quadrupled, the foreign loan of $50 million obtained five years ago, for the development of the proposed shopping mall, is also being eroded by the skyrocketing rate of foreign exchange, now pegged at N195 to a dollar.

    He said: “As local investors, we are receiving the heat and the traders have refused to be reasonable. Our humility in not enforcing our rights to possess the site is turning to stupidity and that is why we decided to commence construction today.”

    Work, he said, has been stopped, following the intervention of the council’s Executive Secretary Adekunle Adeokun, who called for another meeting. The meeting came up with a 15-man committee to design a road map for the relocation of the traders and the project’s take-off.

    He said his company would indemnify all traders willing to move to the proposed mall, promising that they would be given the right on its completion.

    The firm, he said, would build 384 shops, in the proposed mall for the traders.

    Adeokun said he suspended the project to ensure amicable resolution of outstanding issues.

    He said when the market was built in 1976, it had provision for 250 traders, adding that today, the traders’ population is put at 1,000.

    “The original owners pay only N7,200 per annum to the council, while these people rented out their shops for N500,000 and above. That is why we thought of redeveloping the market so that we can get commensurate value for the prime location of the market.”

  • The market fire could not kill

    The market fire could not kill

    Over the past few months it has become normal in Lagos to hear that buildings in public places, especially markets have been burnt. The rate at which this fire occur is becoming worrisome and it seems there is no end to such fire incidents. Each of these fires leaves in its trace deaths and destroyed lives. For those who hear in the news, you may not understand what it feels like to build from scratch, only to be sent back to the scratch again by one misfortune.

    Though when The nation Shopping visited the market after the sad incident, it was discovered that shoppers as well as majority of the traders were not affected. Only a few shops within the premises got burnt. These shops stocked mainly clothing for all ages, lace and jewelries, they are ten in number.

    A shopper Mrs Aina Adeoti was seen buying toiletries after she left the shops of the bureau de change malams who were all around the market, from the entrance to welcome shoppers as they walked in. According to her, “I didn’t believe this is the market that was spoken about in the news. I was expecting to see a picture like that of the ketu plank market which burnt down completely. This section where I am shopping from is not affected, traders here are having a filled day making sales and going about their usual daily activities.”

    Another trader Mr Calistus Okoye who would have loved to buy clothes for his children got disappointed when he found out that one of his customers is affected. However, he was left with no choice but to visit another shop which sells the same item. “I am happy I got what I wanted, though my customer is one of the fire victim, but Alade market known for what it is, is a place where one can be sure of getting desired items always”

    The displaced traders were found sitting helplessly in front of the unaffected shops discussing their ordeal. One of them known as Mrs Theresa Maduka said she is waiting for the next line of action. “I want to see what the market authority and the Lagos state government will do for me; I know how much I have lost in this fire. I still don’t understand why some few shops will get burnt in this very big market?

    Mrs Sulia Aminu is also one of the displaced traders who said she was short of words and confused as she is the bread winner of her family. “I sustain my family; my husband lost his job six months ago. As I speak now my family is looking up to me for their daily bread. What do I do now and where do I go from here? My entire fortune has gone down the drain.”

    A sympathizer, also one of the shop’s owner who was lucky not to be in the section that was raced down by the fire Mrs Naomi Osaghae, a plane crash victim of EAS 2002, gwamasa, kano said she is thankful to God for sparing her life and shop from the horrible incident. “I have always prayed to God not be a victim of any terrible incident since God saved my life from a plane crash thirteen years ago. I was here on Sunday after church service to chill my drinks for sale on Monday, I left the market at exactly 6pm, only to come here on Monday morning and found out that a section has been burnt down completely. It is so sad and I pray such will not happen again.”

    As part of the measures to stop a reoccurrence of such horrible incident, the electricity supply of the entire market has been temporarily switched off pending the time things will become normal, as it was noticed that the fire was caused by an electrically surge. However the market executive has agreed to put it on by weekend to help them make necessary repairs and changes.

    The leader of the market, Mrs Elizabeth Adenuga has also appealed to the government to rehabilitate the damaged portion on time to allow the traders return to the market.