By Emeka Aginam
While the activities of street hawkers  at the   Computer Village Ikeja  still disrupt t free movement of  goods and persons despite ban by the Lagos State Ministry of Environment, Okada riders have also constituted a threat , Vanguard CyberLIFE finding can reveal.

Apart from street trading and Okada riders, further findings reveal that double parking by visitors and traders along the streets of the market have also contributed to congestion in the popular ICT  market  said to have provided jobs to over 500 Nigerian graduates

With the failure of   security agents in the market and the  Lagos State Ministry of Environment to stem the ugly trend , the challenge, according to keen to observers is for  Computer and Allied Products Dealers Association Nigerian, (CAPDAN) to join forces with the  Community Development Association, (CDA) of the market to find a way of banning  Okada operations in the ICT market that has continued to attract patronage within the West African sub-region.

A close monitoring of market activities in various streets of the market including Orameji, Ortigba, Anibiyi, Adapele and many more  last week and this  Monday revealed that  the situation getting  uglier by the day, as  the   ICT vendors, the Lagos State Ministry of environment, security agents and even the visitors appear helpless.
Although there is no standing regulation on Okada riders in the market, several raids by government agencies regarding street trading may not have yielded the expected results as  normal free movement that existed before now  is gradually disappearing by the day.

Despite the fact that  street hawking  is not only limited to Computer Village Ikeja, further findings revealed that hawking in the said market which is increasing by the day  because of lack of enforcement are having the  back  up of  ‘Area Boys’ who allocate spaces to them for agreed amount of money that never get to the government treasury.

Before now, the Director, Special Duties, Internal Revenue Services of the Lagos State Board of Internal Revenue, Mr. Oseni Kunle had during the time of closure of the market for some days  in 2008 said  that there was no going back in banning street trading.“No more street trading. No more illegal structures in Computer Village.
If a structure is illegal, it would have been marked. We will continue to restore sanity in this market for the interest of all” he said.
Meanwhile, majority of the hawkers and Okada riders  who spoke to Vanguard CyberLife on the ground of anonymity  last Monday  argued strongly that  they do not have choice other than to trade and operate their Okada  in the streets  as a result of economic realities at stake.

“I earn my living through Okada riding. I cannot go into armed robbery. God does not support that. If the government should ban Okada operations in this market, they should provide alternative to us” one of the Okada riders who did not want his name mentioned said, adding that Okada riding has provided jobs to billions of jobless Nigerians.

“Renting a shop in the Computer Village is not within the reach of low income earners. There is nothing we can do other than survive through street trading otherwise government should provide a good environment for trading that will make everybody own a shop no matter the income ladder” a young lady who sales recharge card along Adepele street told Vanguard CyberLIFE in an interaction.

According to her, Nigerian economy is not enabling for people to survive through renting a shop which she said is a horse trading affair in the biggest ICT market.
Before now, the relocation of Computer Village  has divided CAPDAN as a result of different interest groups making case for the market to be relocated to a place of the their choice.
But the decision lies in the ICT traders to either relocate the market to Gumm Land, where majority of vendors are building Teck Park and Kotangowa where the State government has approved  as a new site.

Apart from these challenges, the Computer Village Ikeja   has continued to grow from strenght to strength to   international market attracting patronage from the West African sub-regions including Togo, Ghana, Benin Republic, Cameroun, among others.

Part of the reasons for the high patronage of the products from the Computer Village is as a result of the fact that most low scale businesses like business centers, law firms, advertising agencies, small manufacturing outfits cannot afford the prices of branded products whose pricing were designed for multinationals.

However, apart from high cost of renting shops,  street trading, threats from street urchins and many other  challenges facing the market, the place has been the toast of many Nigerian graduates as a result of attractive job offers available.