Redeem your promise, Ladipo Market traders tell Ambode

Twelve weeks after Governor Akinwunmi Ambode promised to construct a multi-layered car park and re-construct three major roads within the popular Ladipo Auto Spare Parts Market, Mushin, traders at the facility are appealing to him to make haste in order to alleviate their sufferings.

The three roads, which Ambode pledged to work on are Alhaji Akinwunmi Street, Ladipo Street and Obagun Avenue. They are all in very bad conditions.

The governor, who visited the market on January 12, 2017, after savouring cheers and adulation from the traders, said the re-construction of the three major roads would ensure free flow of human and vehicular traffic within and around the market.

Even though there was no commencement date for the construction of the multi-layered car park, the governor had informed the traders that he would be meeting with their leaders on the modality for the project and where it would be better sited.

He, however, pledged that the construction of the road would start in February. That did not happen and now April is half gone with no sign that these roads would be reconstructed anytime soon.

When The Guardian visited the market last week, the condition of the roads have worsened, especially with the onset of the rains.

Expectedly, the traders are unhappy with Governor Ambode over the non-fulfillment of his promise two months after giving his words.

One of them, Ebere Ezem said: “This Ladipo Road has been bad for about four years now. So, we were happy when the governor promised to repair three roads within the market, aside from building a pedestrian bridge at Toyota Bus Stop. But two months after, work has not started on any of the projects and even construction equipment are yet to arrive. We are not happy about it because our containers often fall off trucks due to the bad road, and this affects our businesses, especially the importers among us.

On his part, another trader, Chidiebere Pius, who attributed the hectic traffic within and around the market to the bad roads, said they feel really bad about the state of the road because of the losses they suffer.

“We have been expecting government to repair the road, but that is yet to happen. The poor condition of the roads is affecting our businesses a lot as some customers now prefer to patronise other markets because of the challenge of driving within this market.”

Chibuike Ilo added: “We are expecting the government to keep its promise of repairing the bad roads for us because the present condition of the market is driving away our customers.”

“We want Governor Ambode to please reconstruct the road for us because we have suffered immensely from the present condition,” Secretary, Ladipo Main Market Traders Association Task Force, Obinna Ezekwelu submitted.

Pius Njem, another trader in the market is appealing to the governor to come to their aid in order to halt customers drift to other spare parts markets in the state.

“You can see that the bad roads affect us and our businesses in many ways. Sometimes our customers cannot drive into the market due to the state of the road. And when they park by the main road, they are charged as high as N500 for that. All of us were very excited when we heard that Ambode has promised to reconstruct the roads, so we are now appealing to him to please hasten up before the rains worsen matters for us.