Beautification Of Lagos: Pains & Losses Of Petty Traders

i have a few questions for a few people here.
So if i illegally set up shop, govt can't chase me away because i am making honest livng and there right.
I don't think Govt is responsible to provide replacement shops for these people, but constructions of shopping areas and central markets are needed and in place.
Not to sound harse and all, but i am saying if u can't afford a shop in lagos, then must u live in lagos. Relocate to where u can survive legally, so as not to be in a loose loose situation.

Please tell me, what is unreasonable in my responses? So if govt. dragged out traders from Awolowo market, does that justify their trading on the streets? Do you even know what purpose the road, street or highway is meant to serve? Do you know why it was built in the first place? Was it to serve as a trading post? I beg, correct me if am wrong. If govt. dragged out the traders, can't they look for stalls in other markets, or look for other markets where they can place their wares on the ground? Must they block whole lanes by turning such lanes into a trading mall?  

One last word: I do NOT do my own shopping by the roadside. God forbid. I would not endanger my life, by patronising a street trader where vehicles are moving alongside their wares. With all the weird drivers in Lagos, why should i put myself at risk by patronising a trader outside the market? Most of the time, you even get better & cheaper deals from those inside the market, so why should I subject myself to the stress of buying from one trader on the street?

If on the other hand, you wish to patronise street traders, ah it is your call. The day a danfo drivers' brakes fail, and it rams into the nearest section of street traders, let us hope you will not be there to witness it.

I repeat, if I was a governor of Lagos state I would ARREST all those who patronise street traders. Once you make an 'example' out of those buyers by dealing with them squarely, no one would tell the street traders to stop hawking on the streets or displaying their wares right on the road.

I agree with that line of your post. If we are looking for the wrong doers in this case. ALL LAGOSIANS ARE GUILTY. I mean Most all of us have at one time or another patronized these people.


@LAUDATE,  NO WHERE IN MY STATEMENT did I say ANYTHING ABOUT REWARDING THE SELLERS. NO WHERE IN MY STATEMENT did I say Anything about Sending them all to JAIL WHILE people like you and I who have Patronized them for years are to be seen as non-offenders. Do you people read at all?? Simple, just as the government has in the past provided LOW INCOME HOUSING for the poor people who happened to have occupied areas that were not conduscive, we can try the same here. and by the way to the @dcdal,  Why can Lagos not take a look and california and copy some of the successes from there?? Is Lagos in your case too DAFT to do that?? and why do you keep talking of Lagos not having enough money to do this and that ? we should instead of going at this head on continue wasting money of the same tact that has lead us no where in the last 20 years?? Did you ever do the math of how much the government of Lagos has had to spend on this same project over and over and how much more the governmement could have done if it had put the money together and embarked on a ONCE and FOR ALL solution from the beginning???

Don't you see we are talking of money being wasted each year on this SAME ISSUE. We are Speaking of TIME running away on us when this could have been in Lagos' past and we maybe we have other things to focus on instead. Now, to the one who keeps bringing up the state government as if we are trying to crucify him, ,that is not the case at all. I believe experiencing a different opinion does not necessarily mean we are AGAINST THE GOVERNOR of the state so CHILL. Attacking me is not going to help your case @Dcdal, and please instead of insulting my character when you do not read my own posts, try instead to focus on the topic and get your mind off my person.  I State FACTS about the state here ,  you have so far done no such thing but try to attack my posts yourself. The Fact is This is NOT THE FIRST TIME with THIS in LAGOS. WE have been doing the very same thing for over 20 years now and it has not worked. The FACT IS MILLIONS of dollars have gone into this program already over these years and 20 years later, we are still pumping more money into the same project. INSTEAD OF CONTINUINg This GAMBLE,  why NOt take a better APPROACH,  if you Want the BEGGARS off the STREET, PROVIDE THEM AN ALTERNATIVE OR ACCEPT THAT THE BEGGARS WILL MOST LIKELY COME BACK SINCE THEY HAVE NO OTHER OPTIONS, it seems.

@DEmolaf, you suggested the traders move out of lagos and the other dude is pointing out that you should yourself since instead of proposing a better answer, you are asking why do they not leave. My Answer to your post is this, most of those traders that are being kicked off have lived generations in lagos, many of them have grandfathers and grandmothers who were born and raised in the same house they live today. They are poor does not mean they are criminals per say. They are trying to make an honest living even though they are putting up stalls in wrong places and you know what is funny about all this, for those who ACTUALLY KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT HOW LIFE IN LAGOS IS, Many of those stall keepers are given papers by officials who tell them it is ok for them to park their booty where they are. I am serious, some of them will tell you they rent the space they sit it from some person.  I still say this and I stand by it, we need to start COPYING MODELS THAT WORK IN FIGHTING THESE SORT OF THINGS so we can spend more time on other things. How did already developed places do it, let us try that and then see. If you go to places like Johannesburg in SOUTH AFRICA for one ( for the person who has issues with Copying California's model with is way way simple), The Government has provided the people with indoor sheds to rent space in and sell their wares in. I mean you go out there and see,  it is still the same rowdy selling and all but it is all indoors and the people RENT SPACE TO SELL IN THERE,  yes,  those who used to sell their ware outside now rent space from the government to sell inside at affordable rate. Would you call that REWARD IN ANY WAY?? I don't know HOW anyone would. I mean They are PAYING for the space,  They are Off the streets,  their customers which happen to be people like you and I in here wailing their be thrown off the streets, still patronize them and the Government now MAKES MONEY OFF OF THEM AND the streets are cleaner. How can anyone look at that MODEL and scream it is REWARDING them or pampering CRIMINALS?? I dare anyone in here who ACTUALLY LIVED or LIVES in LAgos to claim he/she has NEVER patronized one of those street stores.

 

@Topic

I wonder why anyone in their right mind would want to beautify a dumpster? Lagos is already thrashed.  Nigeria has about 75% undeveloped land and forestry.  Why not start beautifying those from scratch?  Leave the already thrashed areas for renovation later and start allover somewhere else.  It is done everywhere else in the world.

London city can never be renovated. New York city can never be renovated.  But the good people of those nations realize that they can practice what they have learned from past mistakes.  Common sense can tell anyone that.

But alas! In Nigeria, where the use of "bulldozers" is a new phenomenon--they have gone crazy with the idea of bringing down structures and leaving the whole place in a mess. If laws and ordinances were enforceable in the first place, no one would think of erecting illegal structures like most civilized countries.  

Only in places like Nigeria would we display an "upside down" and backward mentality of dealing with problems.  Wasting resources for meaningless projects.  When laws are operational in Nigeria like other countries, then the people will stop building strip malls on the streets and highways. Can you imagine--hawking gala and pure water sachets in London city or New York city--- --unless areas where it is allowed to happen.

They should go to other markets where there are affordable stalls, or look for other markets where there are open spaces and display their wares on such open grounds, within those markets. I gave the example of Aswani market in one of my previous posts.

I will not support them trading on the streets, because they are exposing themselves to danger from passing motorists, causing traffic hold-ups and bottlenecks that lead to loss of working hours and congestion.

Human life is valuable, in my own books. No one should make himself or herself an cheap target for an accident, by trading on the street!!

No one has said they remain on the street YET @Laudate. We are discussing finding a way to effectively get them off the street for good. Not have them come back again to the same place or even worse,  take over the street the next time.




@AlmondJoy,  That has been EXACTLY WHAT I HAVE BEEN SAYING FROM THE BEGINNING but some seem to think it is REWARDING them in some way.

Reward?  It is a no win situation.  The street is already littered with nonsense.  Why demolish more stalls and make them more unsightly.  Gradual relocation makes more sense than all the drama of demolition and loss to lives and property to an already impoverished citizenry.  Why make life harder for them to "beautify" a thrashy city?

@laudate,  if you had read that post of mine in the first place,  you would at least understand that that post was to ALL persons who replied my last and more. Not just you. Again Laudate, NO WHERE DO I STATE THAT WHAT THE PEOPLE ARE DOING IS RIGHT,  that is not EVEN the argument here. The debate remains about how best to deal with the situation ONCE AND FOR ALL.  Not for us to come back to the same 2 years or a year from now and then again a year later.


About patronizing them. Here is a direct question for you. Have yoU EVER bought any ware from a street trader in your life,  yes or No?? @Laudate

And what do you mean by that?   Is it just a Lagosian problem or a Nigerian problem?----The absence of appreciating "beauty"?

I am waiting for you to answer my question @Laudate. Then I will tell you based on your own words who you are.

NO!! For just one simple reason. . . .I value my life. And I would not endanger another person's life, by buying from them on the street.

Secondly, people have once told me that you can get much better bargains by going inside the markets to make your purchases. That is why I always go inside the markets to buy what I need.

Thirdly, a neighbour of mine who bought drinks on the road from a street hawker, discovered that those drinks had expired. By the time she checked, money had exchanged hands and the seller had disappeared. It taught me one valuable lesson. If you need to return goods or you need a warranty. . . .please go inside the market and patronise someone with a fixed shop location or trading address, rather than a roadside seller who might disappear after collecting your money.

It is not okay.  But you have to deal with who gave him that power.  "The government" that hates its citizens! If my government loved me, no soldier man would "brush" me unless I deserve a good "brushing" as dictated by humane laws of the land.

So before people told you about going inside the market,  you never stopped say at tejuosho to buy from those stalls in the front there that were not even stores?? Not even to buy gari or tomatoes?? @Laudate

 

  These is an interesting topic,i can't afford to read and not contribute to it.
   Kudos to kobojunkie,yemmight and Demolaf,the,ve all spoken well.
 I want to tell u that those market sellers or pettytraders selling by d roadsides doesn,t like to sell there,but due to  circumstance.
 Let be realistic,this  is a country that govt.don't cater for its citizens.
  There is abject poverty in this nation,that  some people out there can't even afford a day square meal.  We are not disputing beautification of lagos,but let the state govt.provide SOLUTION before making a DECISION. Imagine somebody with childrens that doesn,t have any means than to spread his/her wares at the roadside, so as to meet his need.
And within 5/10 mins u demolish there stall without even provide any alternative.
Alternatives that i,m talking about is compensation,if this particular individuals has money to get a shop,i hope nothing will stop him/her for not renting a shops in better place.
  please let face facts.this is a repetiton of what past govt have done in lagos but doesn,t make any change.
             Let BRF leave this poor people alone except  his ready to empower them and
compensate them.

I have actually seen it happen right before my eyes,  sometime in 1997, I was in Yaba/tejuosoho area when the army came to clear the place of all those sellers on the street. As soon as the soldiers were out of sight, the traders moved back their  bags and bales to their selling spot, as if nothing had happened. I laughed so hard that day at the sight.

why were they there illegally in the first instance? that a law is in place and is not enforced is not an invitation to every tom privates and harry to break the law. don't you know the law always catch up no matter how long a time?

Why should government give them a place, do u have a business? did government rent your business apartment for you? if government allows  the kiosks and sheds that sell food over septic tanks and gutters and people die of disease and water borne illness or if an outbreak of illness comes due to the location of these stalls - who will you blame - the same government.

Near my office on Allen, every night - the hausa people come and put their wares right on top of gutters and people come there and buy fried egs and breads and tea and u see their wooden stalls etc almost right on the road th next morning - and you say government should fold her arms and look?