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Sanity returns to Ladipo spare parts market

By Isaac Taiwo
06 January 2016   |   3:01 am
IN their first outing of the New Year, the Lagos State Taskforce Monitoring and Enforcement Unit yesterday swooped on traders at the Ladipo auto spare parts market, clearing away parked and disused vehicles from the service lane of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway at Toyota bus-stop.
Task force officials evacuating vehicles from the service lane  at Toyota Bus Stop, Oshodi-Apapa Expressway ...yesterday

Task force officials evacuating vehicles from the service lane at Toyota Bus Stop, Oshodi-Apapa Expressway …yesterday

Task force evacuatesTokunbo vehicles from service lane
IN their first outing of the New Year, the Lagos State Taskforce Monitoring and Enforcement Unit yesterday swooped on traders at the Ladipo auto spare parts market, clearing away parked and disused vehicles from the service lane of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway at Toyota bus-stop.

In the concerted bid to ease traffic and restore sanity to the area, the team accompanied with fully-armed mobile policemen, several trucks and towing vans, spent hours clearing the heaps of spare parts at the market extension and evacuating all vehicles parked on both sides of the service lane and the express.

The traders, noted for their notoriety and disregard to environmental and sanitation laws, had made a mess of the service lane, turning the area into a mini motor assembly plant, while two warehouses located by the roadside, J&F and Unity warehouses, have on countless occasions, obstructed traffic with trucks offloading containers to the market, causing untold hardship to road users.

The service lane had been terribly narrowed to just a lane by secondhand and unused vehicles parked on the road, making it a tussle and harrowing experience for vehicles from opposing sides to wade through the available space.

Oftentimes, when motorists get stuck for hours as containers discharge their contents on the road, traffic is usually diverted towards the expressway with drivers facing oncoming vehicles from Apapa on the busy highway.

The team leader of the task force, who spoke to The Guardian on condition of anonymity, confirmed that they were members of state Task Force from Alausa, adding that they had come to put an end to the excesses of the traders, who have not only taken over the road with their wares but also parked unused vehicles everywhere, even on the road setback and expressway.

The chairman of the task force, Mr. Olubukola Abe, was here himself to warn the traders to desist from causing obstruction to free flow of traffic. He even gave them the instruction to remove the unused vehicles that had constituted nuisance to this area because government does not believe people should disturb the peace of others in the course of doing their business.
“Since they have failed to comply with the instructions and also disdained the notices served on them, we are here today to remove the vehicles,” he said.

One of the traders, Mr. Emeka Okoronkwo, said it was true they came to warn them that they should remove all the unused vehicles from the road.
Another mechanic working in the area attested to the fact that traders had been warned.
“An adage says that the rumours of wars would not kill a lame person that is wise. “

They were all warned before the task force people came. So anyone caught unawares is only reaping the fruit of his disobedience,” he said.

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