Keep New Alade Market clean, don’t allow squatters takeover – Ambode’s wife

• As she commissions N1.89bn market

WIFE of the Lagos State governor, Mrs Bolanle Ambode, has charged traders at the newly commissioned N1.89billion Alade Market to keep the market clean and ensure that squatters were not allowed to take it over, saying the shops were allocated to them to keep and sell their goods and should not be converted to living quarters.

Mrs Ambode gave the admonition at the weekend while commissioning the market built by Master Reality International Concept Limited.

The new market has 504 shops, 200 K-Clamps, 20 toilets, 350 KVA and 150 KVA generators and three boreholes to provide water for the traders. Traders in the old Alade Market have been relocated to the new market.

“It is very important for you to note that this complex is a market and the shops are allocated to you to keep and sell your goods. They are shops and not residential apartments. Please, do not convert them to living quarters.

“At the end of each trading day, ensure that you lock up your stalls and return home. You must keep your stalls, the surrounding and the entire market clean. Cleanliness is of essence and you should not tolerate a filthy environment,” she said.

Speaking at the event, the Sole Administrator, Ikeja Local Government Area, Mr Abiodun Taiwo, said the new Alade Market was a dream come true as the traders from the old market had been relocated to the new market, while the old market would be developed into a mega shopping mall befitting the mega-city status of Lagos.

He recalled that it was the late Iyaloja General of Nigeria, Alhaja Abibat Mogaji, who developed the template for the new market, adding that contrary to speculations, the new market had all the modern facilities to make life worthwhile for the traders.

The Iya-oloja General of Nigeria, Mrs Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, in her remark, said there was resistance when the development of the new market started because of fear of the unknown amongst the traders, but noted that series of meeting held on the issue ad deflated the fear in the affected traders.

Developer of the market, Mr Lai Omotola, who is also the Chief Executive Officer, Master Reality International Concept Limited, said under the leadership of the late Alhaja Mogaji, the template to relocate the traders to a new market was set.

“We can say the relocation was successful because it was not as a result of fire outbreak or looting of the market. The relocation took a peaceful order where traders were allowed to relocate all their belongings before the eventual sealing of the market. Despite the confrontation from few traders, we were careful not to be provoked,” he said.

Omotola, who noted that there was no single act of violence during this period of the exercise, described the transition from the old Alade Market to the new Alade Market as seamless, adding that, “Trading started in the new market even before the complete relocation.”