Traders stage comeback to Oshodi rail tracks

TRADERS on the rail tracks at Oshodi, Lagos dislodged in 2008 by former governor, Babatunde Fashola, have started returning to the spot unmolested.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the traders had in the meantime limited the display of their goods on the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) disused second track, abandoned since 2009.

When Fashola, now the Minister of Power, Housing and Works, dislodged the traders, the two tracks were functional. But the traders then defiantly displayed their goods on the two tracks.Kiosks of different sizes were then placed on and along the two tracks by the traders to display their wares.

The traders hurriedly moved their goods away for an approaching train only to return after the train had gone.Reports have it that the traders were dislodged because Oshodi, especially along the rail tracks, was known to be the dirtiest and an abode for criminals in Lagos.

Before the dislodgement, their activities not only disrupted the movement of the train due to the congestion, but also prevented easy movement of passengers when alighting or joining the train at the station.

The traders always pushed the passengers away not to step on their goods, leaving many of them unable to drop or join the train at the station.

The situation is now gradually returning with the traders staging a comeback. One of the traders along the tracks, who spoke anonymously, told newsmen that they settled some people to sell their goods along the disused track. The trader, who also declined to mention those that were paid, however, added that some miscreants, who called themselves “Omo-Onile” (land owners), were among those settled.

When contacted, some of the NRC officials at the station declined comment but directed NAN to its headquarters at Ebute Metta, Lagos.

Meanwhile, the Lagos State government has started erecting metal fence to protect the rail tracks from Ilupeju to Ikeja as a way of checking the activities of traders and miscreants.