Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode Visits Tejuosho Market, Orders Dislodgement Of Street Traders

L-R: Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, Executive Secretary, Yaba Local Government, Bola Olumegbon-Lawal and Managing Director, MRI Investments, Idris Asunmo during the the Governor’s Facility Tour at the Tejuosho Shopping Complex in Yaba, Lagos yesterday.

According to report, Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode has ordered the immediate dislodgement of street traders around the Tejuosho market Yaba, Lagos.

Gov. Ambode gave the order today, when he visited the premises of the new ultra-modern Tejuosho Shopping Complex, on an inspection tour.

Speaking at the market, he said his administration would not allow street traders to keep obstructing traffic and cause hardship for Lagosians who ply Lagos roads even as he urged them to move into the shopping complex without delay.

He said, “We want the traders to move into the market immediately. We do not want to see anybody on the road. As much as possible, we will deploy more people to enforce the directive to ensure the road is free because the residents are complaining. It is a good thing that you have a large underground parking space that can accommodate about one thousand cars so that cars will not be parked on the road.’’

In his remarks, the Managing Director of MRI Investments, Mr. Idris Asunmo reiterated the governor’s stance and maintained that the facility was ready to be occupied.

Mr. Asunmo added, “The Governor came around to have a look at the market and its environs. He is concerned about the obstruction of traffic in the market surroundings which is caused principally by the street traders.

“Having seen the situation for himself, he has directed the task force to come and enforce the dislodgement of those street traders. However, he also tasked us to ensure their smooth movement into the market since the stores (K clamp) built for them are ready to be occupied.”

On the readiness of the new Tejuoso market for the business of buying and selling, Mr. Asunmo, whose organization is charged with managing the complex, said the Facility is fully ready, as some traders have already moved in and have begun displaying their wares.

He noted that the traders would have moved into their stalls before now, if the allocation process by the office of the previous Deputy Governor had been completed earlier.

The impressive shopping complex boasts approximately 2, 745 lock up shops, 1,250 Kclamps adding up to about 4,000 shops. Other facilities within the complex include four banks and eight supermarkets as well as basement car parks that can accommodate at least 650 cars and a rooftop car park that can accommodate about 60 cars.

Mr. Asunmo described Tejuosho market as a shoppers’ delight with its state of the art facilities designed to make shopping very convenient for the average shoppers and even the traders themselves.

“We know that one of the major challenges in the Nigeria market environment is the issue of rest rooms but this complex has 52 toilet locations and each toilet has four seats so when you multiply that you have an idea of how many toilet seats are in this complex.

“Also, we have 24 hour electricity supply in this market because we are connected to the national grid and we also have a standby generator. The next essential thing in any market after rest rooms, power and parking space is water supply. Here we have two industrial boreholes and we have underground and overhead surface tanks. The overhead tanks can take 300,000 litres of water and the underground tank also has more than enough storage capacity. Everything here is well planned for.

“Accessibility to the market is excellent. You can access the market from Tejuosho, you can access it from Yaba or Ojuelegba. Those are the basic facilities and in terms of safety and security, everything is well prepared for. There are armed securities and there are private securities,” he concluded.