Exporters at Lagos Island, including the Irewolede market, have called on the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMITI) to save them from the needless harassment and high-handedness of the Lagos Island local council.
 
The export market, which is largely informal and primarily serves traders from Ghana, Togo, Liberia and the rest of West Africa, sees a daily foot traffic of millions of people and hundreds of millions of naira in sales.
 
Speaking with The Guardian this week, a representative of Alhaji Ayinla Nigeria Limited, Alhaji Ambali Ajiboye, narrated that the area was ceded to the company since 1997 and that since then, it has been paying the required levies as due.
 
“However, to our utmost shock, some people suddenly appeared from the Lagos Island Local Government, sometimes last month, claiming they served us notice letters on three different occasions.
 
“When we went to their office to know what the issue was, they said they were agents of one Salawe Sati Ramoni and he is our new landlord. This was news to us as the land still belongs to Alhaji Abdulsalam Ayinla, rented to him by the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing and has neither been sold nor ceded out to someone else as far as we know.”
  
He said despite several attempts to meet with the council chairman to resolve the issue amicably, it was fruitless and the following week, they woke up to see they had been locked out of their shops by the council.
  
He added that all levies and taxes were paid up to date, wondering why export traders had been left to suffer needlessly.
 
“We have been suffering all manners of exploitation, high-handedness, intimidation and harassment from the local council for long. Is this how the government intends to grow the country’s non-oil export by allowing non-state players to frustrate us daily?

“Our only recognised landlord is the Federal Ministry of Works and our license has neither been revoked nor withdrawn. Why is the local council trying to impose a new landlord on us and prevent us from trading?” he queried.

He called on the FMITI and appropriate trade protection agencies to wade into the matter and save export traders from further harassment before the situation deteriorates.

Also, Iyalode Oja, Irewolede Market, Omowunmi Jimoh, narrated that trading activities had suffered in the last few weeks with attendant financial loss to the traders.

She said: “Our shops have been locked since last week and we have lost billions of naira to this unnecessary lock. Many traders coming in from Ghana, Togo and other West African countries have been unable to buy goods.

“Look at the trailers sitting empty in the car park, this is detrimental to trade and investment. Even the porters who help carry goods from one point to another are losing money, as there is nothing to carry. The local council people keep threatening us that they will bring bulldozers to destroy our shops. This is unacceptable,” she said.

Also decrying the situation, Majero Oja, Sherifat Mobolape Onitiju, lamented months of harassment, stating that trading activities have been disrupted. “We have been losing millions of Naira daily since this closure started. We sell food items and our goods are rotting away in the shop. Our creditors, the banks, are on our neck to repay loans but we cannot as our shops are locked. We are calling on the government to prevail on the local council to desist from harassing us and open our shops immediately,” she said.