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Ogba shop owners contribute N30,000 each for fence erection

– Lament losses as shops still remain under lock and key

Market men and women who own shops on Oba Ogunjobi, Oke-Ira roads  and part of Thomas Salako Street in Ogba, Lagos, who are now complying with the directive by the Lagos state Ministry of The Environment  to fence their shops to ease free flow of traffic have disclosed to encomium.ng that they contributed N30,000 each for the execution of the project which is expected to be completed in a few days. Not only that, they also groaned on the losses incurred as a result of the closure order which has been on for a few days.

One of the affected business owners in the vicinity, Mr. Musa Idris told encomium.ng that things have not been easy for him and his fellow shop owners in the area as they have been redundant, losing a lot of money daily.

“I can’t lie to you, we’re not finding it funny at all. I think you can also see how all of us are just here standing every day, doing nothing. Some of us are only coming to monitor the construction of the fence along this place while some are still confused on where to put their fence. And as you see, the project is still ongoing. And no one is allowed to open any shop until it’s completed and certified by the Commissioner himself. Each of us paid N30,000 for the project and we have not made any money since about five days the place was sealed. But there’s nothing we can do, we just have to comply. I believe there’s reason for everything.”

Another small-scale business operator in the area who simply identified herself as Mrs. Ige also corroborated the earlier submission. She added that the decision wasn’t too wrong but it’s the fire brigade approach applied by the officials in charge that made it seem to be punitive.

“It’s true we contributed about N30,000 each among ourselves. The government is not the one handling the project. We’re the ones doing it on our own to comply with the order. We don’t have a choice than to submit to the will of the government. And we have been warned against permanent closure should we fail to obey the order. It has not been easy at all. I have lost more than N300,000 which I would have recorded from sales of my goods in the last five days. Not that building the fence is a bad idea, but everything got to us here all of a sudden. But who are you to fight the government?”

  • Tade Asifat
Encomium

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