•Damage to bridge will subject motorists, commuters to hardship –Lagos
Mrs Rukayat Balogun sat quietly staring at the corner where her shops, which housed goods comprising baking materials, once stood. She was so lost in her thoughts that she hardly noticed the presence of sympathisers. Having traded and earned a livelihood there for over 20 years, the fire outbreak that destroyed several shops, including hers, at the Aromoleti Eso Market in the Apongbon area of Lagos, left her devastated.
“I was called at 2:15 am on Wednesday and got to the market at about 2:50 am. When I arrived, I heard two stories: some said some people came to pour petrol and some said it was caused by a high voltage. But the security men said they saw some people throwing something and suddenly, the fire started. We can’t really say what happened but it is left to God.
“All my shops are gone. Many of us lost millions of naira because we had to stock up our shops in preparation for Ramadan. I feel sad; I’m just trying to be strong because I don’t want to end up with high blood pressure or in a hospital. We are just begging the government to have mercy on us. We pay our tax and many levies, we cannot count,” Balogun, who is also a market leader, told our correspondent on Friday.
The stench from burnt bags of baking flour and other food items pervaded the air in the market. Many traders watched helplessly while others shook their heads in despair as welders dismantled what was left of their makeshift stops and containers.
Scavengers were seen patrolling the scene like vultures soaring above a carcass. The mood in the area was a telltale sign that tragedy had recently befallen it. Several shops located under the Eko Bridge were gutted by fire on Wednesday. Goods worth millions of naira were said to have been destroyed while the bridge was reportedly damaged.
It was gathered that some of the traders passed out on sighting their burnt shops. Some who could not be resuscitated were said to have been rushed to nearby hospitals.
Following the damage and the need for an integrity test, the Lagos State Government shut down the bridge and gave traders and squatters a 24-hour notice to leave the area. It was, however, learnt that the notice was extended by seven days to give the traders some time to remove their goods and makeshift stores.
Similarly, the National Emergency Management Agency announced alternative routes for Lagos Island-bound commuters and motorists to ease vehicular movement. NEMA’s South-West Zonal Coordinator, Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, who made the announcement on Wednesday in Lagos, said the Federal Ministry of Works had been called upon to close the bridge and carry out integrity tests to determine the safety of the bridge for further usage.
The Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, had blamed the fire on the illegal structures and containers where flammable items were stored.
Worried by the development, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Central Business Districts, Gbenga Oyerinde, said the removal of containers and makeshift shops affected by the fire had commenced as they would no longer be allowed under the bridge.
“Anyone who flouts the directive to steer clear from using under the bridge for storage or trading will be arrested and prosecuted,” Oyerinde added.
But a widow, Koyinsola Okin, who said she lost two of her shops to the fire and had been trading there for many years, appealed to the state government to reconsider the decision and as many of the affected were widows and breadwinners who had yet to recover from the shock.
“I have two children and many of the women in this market are the breadwinners of their families. I am a widow, so it is painful to lose my means of livelihood when I have children in school to take care of. I don’t know where to start. By estimate, I lost about N25m to the fire. I have nothing in my shop because everything was burnt.
“Chasing us out of the market is not the solution because we were born and brought up in the market. The government said it did not want a permanent structure under the bridge; that is why we use containers and we have been using containers for many years. We have started clearing the place where the fire occurred because we are ready to do what they told us to do but we want them to have mercy on us,” Okin said.
Another trader, Isoken Oviawe-Eke, said she had stocked up her burnt container with goods worth over N8m from the loans they secured from some commercial banks. She, however, suspected that the fire could not have been accidental based on how it spread rapidly.
“I had to trek from Iddo to Apongbon but could not get close to my burning container because the fire was just raging. I took loans from banks in the area. It is better for the government to leave us here because the seven-day notice is a big problem. I have 15 shops. Where will I move the shops to when I have people to take care of? I have no husband,” she added.
A 43-year-old trader, Amobi Okpeke, told our correspondent that though he did not lose any of his shops to fire, the quit notice given to them by the state government had given him sleepless nights.
“I have traded in the market for over 15 years and I have two shops. Since we got the notice, I have not been myself. My wife has been trying to make me calm because I have cried a lot. Where will I go? I don’t know where to keep my goods. In fact, I am confused. My last child is a little over two years old and my kids go to school,” the father of three lamented.
But the Commissioner for Information, Mr Gbenga Omotoso, who said the decision to evacuate the traders was a directive from the Federal Government, lamented that no fewer than five bridges in Lagos had been gutted by fire in a similar manner. He also lamented that the damage to Eko Bridge following the fire would subject commuters and motorists to hardship as it was a disaster for everyone.
“Are we going to wait till when everything is destroyed? I believe that whatever is necessary for the government to do, the government will do. But the decision is a decision the Federal Government has taken after considering so many things. Look at the kind of headache this one (damaged Eko Bridge) is going to give us in Lagos. Nobody can use that bridge now; I don’t know how many months it is going to take to fix that bridge or how much it is going to cost to fix it.”
“If they (traders) were not under the bridge, would the bridge have been burnt? Would there have been any arguments on whether they sell bread there? Our people would do something that is clearly against the law and then would be asking for compensation. Look at what all of us will suffer from this bridge and somebody is saying they should compensate them. In Nigeria, you would build a market and people won’t use them. They would display their wares on the road.”
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