Beautification Of Lagos: Pains & Losses Of Petty Traders

  LOL

I like your ideas Kobojunkie.  My neighbourhood used to have a farmers market down one of the streets here.  It was in a vacant land space no body was using at the time.   Away from any residential or business zones.  I believe it was contracted to the hispanic populaton to help them with some form of employment.  Later, some other interest group wanted the space and the city decided it was time for a strip mall or "plaza"-----A real beautification concept mind you.


What did they do?  They gave the marketers 6 months to vacate the premises and posted the last date of occupancy to give these people alternative means of setting up else where.  Now you know that would not be a problem because as small as any group is here--they always have a union.  These union members looked for alternative spots and relocated ALL these farm marketers to a much better equipped area 1 month before they were to leave the old space.  Now that is what I am talking about.


Where did government come in?  They already had laws in place to let traders form unions.  The people have learned to work with the government and everyone is happy.  They had representatives and the government worked with them without violence or disrespect. Orderly transition of things.  But in Nigeria?   It is all about Army, Police, Navy and Mopols used to trample on the defenseless citizens in Nigeria--all because they are idle and can be used by corrupt leaders as errand boys and girls!

Well, Laudate and co.  Nothing to worry about.  Let us see how far Fashola will get in the "beautification" of Lagos.   One final question for you guys though and it is open to the whole house.


IS THE CITY OF LAGOS WORTH BEAUTIFYING?

@almondjoy
i'm not scratching my head for solution. Its just perplexing to me that the same people who cry "nigerian factor" for everything that goes wrong cannot see why opening illegal shops on the road should be stopped. na wa o.

How about we 'beautify' lagos for the same reason we 'beautify' our own homes. Like because its the right and decent thing to do? I put beautify in quotes because most of these changes have less to do with the 'rich' than you think. I'm sure you realise that the cleaner a place is, the better the health of its people, wether rich or poor, and the less money they have to spend on health.

Also, you should know that if Lagos became 'beautified' as you say, not only rich people get the benefits. You too can set up buisness easily, travel from one end of lagos to the other for work or whatever without unnecessary traffic and stress.

WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND? How can ANYONE, especially those who have seen how orderly it is in other countries DEFEND EYESORES.

@kobojunkie

you only have to look within this thread. its like we have come to the place where we complain just for the sake of complaining. Damned if the govt. does something, damned if they dont. We want a clean state, but we dont want govt. to clean it up. I suppose if we pray hard enough, we will just wake up one morning, and everything will just ok.

It is hard to understand because LAGOS CAN NEVER BE BEAUTIFIED even if our lord visited in this our lifetime.   No planning, no drainage, now accessible road networks, electricity poles everywhere, mini swamps here and there with a teeming population always in a  hurry to go nowhere in blazing stand still traffic jams.   The place is going to be ugly for ever so why bother in the first place?

So dear Kobojunkie--I will have to disagree.  Lagos is not worth beautifying.  It might just be better to start from somewhere else.  How can you beautify a place that has no aesthetic appeal?  Looking down at Lagos from an aircraft as you touch down reminds one of Hades!  How can you beautify Hell for heavens sake?   Only looney bins live in Lagos.  Why would anyone want to live in Lagos for cying out loud!

Only "funny" looking dude and babes like that "labbiyemmy" of a fellow live in Lagos!  Can't you feel how he turned out?   Even his "jherri curls" look like Lagos!

Toot! Toot!  Honking my horn!  Preach oh!   Thank you very much!  So much said in just one line

Now we are talking.  Revamping, overhauling, re-novating and so on and so forth is more like it.  Beautifying--no way!  Like you said--it has to start with the government telling the people that laws have to be obeyed by all.  All these government officials and their children or family members patronize street hawkers like some have already mentioned.

How many areas of Lagos where street traders abound, have such "a vacant land space no body was using at the time. Away from any residential or business zones," to use your own words?? Yes, there are some open spaces within some markets, but where else do vacant land spaces exist along major roads, streets and highways in Lagos? Is it within Lagos Island, where the houses are so densely packed together, and fully built-up? Or is it along the major highways or bridges, which are several metres above the water? Or is it at Oshodi-Oke where every available space is taken up? Or is it along Old Ojo road where there are so many residential and business premises, standing side-by-side? Even these days when banks want to open up new branches, they lease existing buildings and renovate them from scratch, because there are very few or no existing vacant land spaces, along several major streets or densely-populated parts of Lagos where these traders ply their wares.

As for giving notice, these traders are often told not to trade along a particular area, and many of them know that it is illegal for them to set up shop on the road, so how much more notice do they need? Even along the Bar beach, governement aides went there and gave them a quit notice spanning several months which was televised on NTA, but at the expiration of that period, they went back there and guess what? The traders were still there.

In one of my previous posts, I spoke about govt. relocating some traders from Idumota and other areas in central Lagos to Alaba & Trade fair complex. It was done in conjunction with their unions. As soon as those traders moved there, new ones went back to the same spot and took their place. Guess what? Some of the relocated traders then came back to Idumota as well, and decided to re-open their business there. Go back to Idumota now, and see what the place is like. Carter bridge is the one that has borne the greatest brunt of it all. People not only trade freely on that bridge, it has been converted into a parking lot. Chei!

There was even a time when some local govt. councils, decided to allow some streets to be converted into day markets, just in an effort to relocate these street traders off the highways. What happened? It created a fresh set of problems.

http://www.newswatchngr.com/editorial/allaccess/nigeria/10806105150.htm

In Lagos as well as in other parts of Nigeria, traders have never been prevented from joining unions, or forming one. In fact, allocation of shops in many areas is done through the traders' unions. Even within the market, every section has its' own union. In a typical market, you will find the butchers' union, fishmongers union, or the potato sellers' union, the textile sellers' union etc.

What this society needs is a change in the mind-set of most people, both citizens and street traders alike.

Abeg, I don talk my own. . .those that have ears to hear, let them hear.

No, once again I didn't miss the point. You did. You gave a very specific example of how the govt. worked with  Hispanic traders, through their unions to relocate them to a new trading zone. I merely responded to your example, by showing you how the Lagos govt. has tried to do a similar thing, and how it created a fresh set of problems.

As for the Idumota story, I want to believe that you were not in Lagos when that relocation was done. Or else you would have known that the population of relocated traders were not 20 or 50, but much more. Alternatives were provided in this case. It was a whole neighbourhood of traders dealing in particular items. And it was an orderly transition, to use your own words. Please pay a visit to ASPAMDA at the Trade fair complex along Ojo Expressway, to understand what am talking about.


Please go back and re-read my solutions thoroughly, so that you do not mix them up. The only thing I have advocated has been the removal of shacks, stalls and sheds built along railway tracks, on gutters and on WHOLE lanes, along major highways, and roads. These were not deserted vacant lands, but roads, highways or areas designated as thoroughfares! So I don't what is supposed to be reclaimed o! Neither can I see a vacuum anywhere. The roads, streets and gutters across which these stalls are built as well as the pedestrian sidewalks, are they a vacuum?? In fact, it is because there is no vacuum on those roads that 'street trading' is being viewed as a menace and a risky activity!

And when stalls on the roads are removed, they free up space for vehicular movement which leads to the free-flow of traffic, and this in turn prevents commuters from sitting in traffic for three hours or more - something caused most times by the fact that the road has been reduced to one-way lanes, by street traders. And when stalls on the gutters are removed, rain water and floods drain off and there is less flooding when it rains, as long as those gutters and storm drains are not blocked!

Please o, there are laws against street trading & road obstruction, but their enforcement is another matter!

am dissapointed @ poster, what aint right aint right no matter how helpful or how cheap it is, Its unsafe to eat from food vendors that cant be located easily, I guess its cos of the environment,,,,

A great example under Idiagbon to show that Nigerians will do what they are told if the government is "serious" about policies implemented.  When commeth another?   Right now, what we have is "the joker in the pack" syndrome in Nigeria.  A bunch of jokers! But the government and the people are in a battle of wits as to which group is more stupid. So far it is a stale mate and the picture is that one is the reflection of the other.  Garbage in -  garbage out!

True.  But not in our life time with a "Yaradua-Jonathan" aki and paw-paw, dumbo-combo!

MP007 (m)   
am dissapointed @ poster, what aint right aint right no matter how helpful or how cheap it is, Its unsafe to eat from food vendors that can't be located easily, I guess its because of the environment,,,,

I am very disappoinment in you MP007.  It is unfortunate that this topic that have generated a lot of responses, positive/negative is what you are disappointed at.  You are saying its unsafe to eat from those pple. 

These are food vendors with good environment, well built and decent.  Govt is driving them because they were illegal structure but not indecent.  However, for those of you that have responded against this.  You have forgotting that State Govt agents generate money legally from this shops.  This is where you and your government now calling illegal structure.  These are the shops that also observe Thursday 7-10 as sanitation.  And these activities are monitored by state govt.

For M007, I have worked in Fast food for 4 yrs plus and internally I know what issues were with quality of food being produced.  Even while I was there, I stil patronize vood vendors because of the quality of food.  On Marina Road, Island, you have a very big mamaput where you see more than 75% Bankers in that area eat.  One day and I know it will com quickly govt will demolish such a decent and you will you are disappointed in seeing people eating.  In summmary, I am really disappointed in your statement.

I don't think pushing that the street traders are less hygenic than the other traders will work. It still remains that majority of lagosians patronize the street traders, like it or not. They have been doing the same for decades. Many eat there, go home and nothing happens to them, infact 99.9% of these people have never had an issue with doing this same year after year. Why is it suddenly an issue that it is non-hygenic?? That does not even work when you want to argue for a reason to bulldoze

Like I mentioned earlier. Africa's problems are very easy to fix, the problem is we like to sort of claim it is complicated so we can avoid doing what needs to be done to solve the issues. Give you an example, 

Education from Primary Level to Tertiary level in Africa, 
========================================
Problems:
              a) Schools are dilapidated and not equipped to handle the educational needs of students in today's global economy?
              b) Students are about 20 years behind the rest of the developed world when it comes to education and skill level
              c) Majority of the teachers are not adequately trained to provide the students with the level of education they need
              d) Most parents are not literate enough to help their kids with their educational needs at home
             

PROPOSED SOLUTIONS:

1) We live in a world were we have so many models we can copy from,  Curriculum, building, teacher training programs, they all exist so we do not have to spend so much time trying to come up with solutions from scratch to the current situation in the country.

Instead of continuing to build and patch up old jakande buildings which we all know is to up to par in today's world. We should already be working on upgrading all the schools, even if we have to do it 5 schools at a time to standard level. Construct facilities that will with stand whatever the elements and the children have to throw at it for the next at least 10 years. Build top level science and computer labs, language and other training labs to help teach them what they need to learn to not only survive but compete with the rest of the world today and in years to come.
     
2) Teachers can be paid more decent wages and offered chances of actually earning more through incentive programs.
i) Incentives could be given to teachers who take and pass at least a class or two to build there knowledge and skill, each year.
ii) Students could be given a chance to anonymously grade the teaching skills of each teacher after each course term/year and the information collected can be used to help the teacher improve on skills and also award those who do very well for their commitment.

3) Schools can be equipped with resources and through there agricultural/home economics programs come up with ways to raise money to support various mini projects in the school each year and compete for more incentives with other schools. There are schools out here that plant vegetables and raise livestock, which are then sold to raise money for small projects. In other programs, students work on science projects and then submit these to national programs where money won is applied to help school

4) The States can in this situation use the many NYSC members to their advantage by providing the NYSC youths with positions as mentors and teacher’s assistants who not only help the teachers during classes but also help students by offering extra lessons every other day and helping tackle questions students may have after hours. Students email questions they may have on school work to these NYSC members who in turn provide them with solutions to help them learn the subject.

5) the NYSC youths can also offer after hour Adult training classes to parents who would like to get educated in skills that they believe they need to learn and master in other to better their own lives, help their children and in the end their community as a whole.



,  I can go on and on and on with this but I believe it is possible to do all this in NO time,   it is just that I have gotten to a point where I believe politics is doing more harm to the country than good cause of the sort of people we keep getting into these seats come every election and it is time for the people to take initiative and basically do for themselves for as long as they can and sue the government for not doing the job itself. This is a democracy, we have the power now and we can push to fix things if we want to see it fixed.