By OBUH PROVIDENCE

Small scale traders,selling wares under the bridge at the popular trade-fair complex, has lamented over the demolition of their Kiosk.

The demolition was carried out penultimate week by officials of the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) at “under bridge” bus stop, outside the trading complex along Badagry express way.

A trader, Mr. Francis Onyekachi told financial Vanguard that there was no official notice to the demolition, “even though the State Government has in 2009 ordered the demolition of shops at bus stops.”

With a wife and five children to cater for, Onyekachi said that he was not against the demolition, but that the government should make provision for shops for the poor masses before taking such steps.

According to him, “It is sad that we have a government who do not make provision for the people before asking them to evacuate their shops, and that is the system of government we are running in Nigeria and is a very bad thing. We are over one million and everybody can not pay for shop, we have to trade in places like this to feed our family, they should make provisions for us by providing a place for us to sell, then we can leave the road.

“Most of us do not have money left in our homes, we believe on a daily business to feed our family, the development is affecting us, affecting our families, because everyone trading here has a family, I have five children, is affecting business because we can not shade our wares, hence we do not know what will happen next.

“There was no official notice that such a thing is going to be done within a space of time like this, though some people said that they heard over the Radio, but not everybody were opportune to get the information, we just saw the KAI officials, after shading our market, before we knew it, demolition started everywhere, that is how we rushed and packed our goods.”

In addition, he said that the order was from the Lagos State government, Alausa, the Governors office, stating, “way back in 2009, a similar destruction was carried out all over Lagos by the State Government that the shops of all those selling at the bus stop be destroyed.”

Another woman in her late fifties, identified as Mrs. Rachael appealed to the government to allow them, owning to the fact that they earn their living with the shops.“The government should allow us because this is where we get our daily bread, we do no have any other place, many of us here are widows, no husband and this place is the last hope of so many people. We were not given prior notice, I was sleeping when somebody came knocking and asking me to pack my things, which I did but they refuse me from carrying my table, they destroy all our table, they did not destroy our goods, but the fish I bought for sale is breeding maggot because I could not sell them as a result of the demolition, it has started spoiling,” she said.

However, most of the traders, especially the market leaders contacted, refused to grant interview to the press, but maintained that they were not going to quit, except the state gives them an alternative to keep their body and soul.