And chaos continues at Ladipo

• Roads, medians bear burden of indiscriminate parking of vehicles in Lagos 

ABOUT a decade ago, Lagos residents were caught in the crossfire of the disagreement between the Lagos State government and petroleum tanker drivers over illegal parking on fly-overs in the Apapa and Ijora areas.

   As a result of the face-off, resulting to verbal attacks, recalcitrant drivers withdrew their vehicles and created a fuel scarcity situation that brought untold hardship to Lagosians.

    Today, a similar scenario is playing out at the popular Ladipo Automobile Spare-Parts Market in Mushin Local Council of Lagos State, where vehicles of diverse shapes and sizes are indiscriminately parked on every available space and median on the road.

   Daily, motorists and commuters who ply the road that lead to Muritala Mohammed International Airport Road and Oshodi/Oworonsoki Expressway are made to go through excruciating pains in the traffic as the illegal parking assumes a dangerous proportion.

  To these Lagosians, the illegal parking along the Ijora-Apapa-Orile- Costian axis may have been the most talked about, but the Toyota bus stop is no different.

   Once upon a time, the road and, indeed, the surrounding entries to the market were wide and free with a supporting two-way service lane that is history now.

  They may still be wide but definitely with no free passage anymore because traders who display their wares at every nook and cranny and illegally parked vehicles have taken over.

  Traders have taken over, displaying all kinds of wares including Alsatian dogs as well as stockpiling their wares.

 The roads, according to Mrs. Clementina Amaobi, a banker, have been so entrenched in chaos that automobile mechanic workshops have sprung up.

  “Pedestrian walkways along the service lanes have been taken over by traders and mechanics,” she complained

 The situation, an equipment-leasing operator at nearby Daleko Market in Isolo, Mr. Idowu Amao said, has caused reduction in business transactions because not many people like to pass through the road any time from 5: 00 pm because of the resultant traffic snarl.

 The traffic snarl, he said, stretches to as far as Ilasa, most times with the attendant danger of trying to cope with containers carrying vehicles on the same road. Attributing the development to the influx of junks in the name of used spare parts into the country, Amao said government’s attention is needed to avert what could be an impending danger to Lagosians.

  Also a concerned trader simply identified as Maduka, blamed the presence of three warehouses, namely Unity, J&F and Conference within the service lane, as the major cause of the illegal parking on the median and other parts of the road.

According to him, the available space now serves as parking lot for trucks carrying containers.

 He said: “ There is also indiscriminate siting of warehouses near the expressway which ordinarily should not be encouraged.”

   “My brother, you could imagine the kind of scene and confusion it creates to see two or more trucks offloading their contents at the same time in front of these warehouses.”

  “The trucks do not only occupy the walkways during their off-loadings, they also selfishly rob pedestrians of their right of way by compelling them to meander their way among the myriad vehicles.” 

  “Apart from the nauseating activities of these trucks, the roads are often made narrower by all kinds of unused vehicles parked along the road, which makes the service lane look like an average mechanic village.”

  “The activities of the traders have caused unquantifiable inconvenience to workers, who have no alternative route than to pass through this very service lane in the afternoon”, he added.

  But the immediate Past President of Ladipo Central Executive Auto Dealers Association (LCEADA), Comrade Daniel Nwafor had recently blamed government for the congestion on the service lane at Toyota Bus-stop saying the state government has failed in its duty to rehabilitate roads in the market since it was reopened.

 Nwafor, the National President, Unity Market Leaders Traders Association of Nigeria, has urged the government to fix bad portions of the road to reduce congestion at the Toyota bus stop access to the market.

“In the past six years, there has been no government’s presence in Ladipo Market despite the heavy revenue being generated by government from the market.”

“We pay Lock-Up Shop Permits, Trade Permits and all manners of fees to the government. If Ladipo is recognized as the mainstay of the African economy, why is government not giving it priority?

  “All the roads in all parts of Mushin are being tarred. In Ajao Estate, the roads are being attended to. There is no reason why that road at Five Star bus stop should not be graded till now. Over 300 containers and all manners of vehicles now pass through Toyota. Why will it not be congested?” he queried.

 “Ladipo Market is the most volatile market in West Africa, all states of the federation come to the market to trade but it is ironical that with such a huge population, only two access roads namely, Toyota and Five Star, which are regrettably in deplorable conditions are available for the traders. We are pleading to the authorities to attend to the roads”, he added.

 It will be recalled that officials of the market, led by its President General, Mr. Ikechukwu Animalu, has in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with the government pledged to maintain one sided parking, stop trading on the road as well as ensure regular cleanup of the market, among other conditions.

 The MOU was a condition precedent to its reopening after it was closed by the government last year.