Governor Abiola Ajimobi spoke about the renewed fight against street trading during a visit to the neighbourhood market at Scout Camp, Molete Ibadan, on Thursday.
Ajimobi who decried untoward human casualties associated with street trading, bemoaned why traders abandoned the neighbourhood market stalls by the state government.
He reiterated that the neighbourhood market was to create a safety net for traders who could not afford to rent a shop as well as eradicate people trading dangerously by roadsides and under high tension wires.
He therefore warned that persons arrested for street trading would face stiff penalties, while warning that those who had abandon their stalls will have their allocations revoked.
“We appeal to you to hold on to the spaces allocated to you, those who were allocated spaces and decided to trade by the road will lose their allocation, we say no more to street trading.”
“Imagine those who were allocated spaces along with you but decided to trade by the road, we shall start to deal with them soon. In fact we shall revoke their allocation,” Ajimobi said.
He further admonished the traders to take up initiatives towards maintaining good environment within the market, advising them to come up with affordable payment scheme for the sake of keeping the market environment safe and clean.
“It is pertinent to note that there is nowhere in the whole of Nigeria where government constructed this kind of modern market without collecting money from those allocated spaces, you should find a way of levying yourselves so as to the financial strength to do things like cleaning of the environment and maintenance of security,” Ajimobi said.
Speaking, the Babaloja of the neighborhood market, Mr Kehinde Tewogbade said his members would support the resolve of the state government to enforce its laws against street.
“Ajimobi has always been supportive to us, he promised to construct and conclude the market within six months and that came to pass, we will not forget the N20million revolving loan he approved and gave us in 2013, this shows a good leader that cares for the downtrodden.”
Scout Camp neighbourhood market was commissioned in 2013 with over 3000 spaces and lock-up shops.
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