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…Say, ‘we’ve been run out of business
By Kafilat Akinwunmi
For long, they treaded and traded on death’s lane, literally and literarily. They sold their ware on rail tracks, and quickly cleared the tracks and ran out of danger whenever a train approached.
Then the Lagos State government decided that enough was enough. Operatives of the Lagos Task Force on Environmental Offences were despatched to dislodge the illegal traders from trading on the tracks. And since then, the traders have been bemoaning their fate.
Traders along the rail tracks in parts of Lagos have expressed their concern regarding the poor sales they’ve been making since the task force raid which happened recently. Many of these traders who resumed trading in the morning and evening displaying their wares to make sales and would retreat at sun rise and sunset respectively, said they no longer have a choice but to resume trading only in the evening. They complained that sales have not been the same ever since the task force raided the rail tracks-turned market.
Many of them who spoke to Saturday Sun lamented bitterly on how much they lost during the raid and how they’ve got loads of debts to pay. Some of the traders also lamented how many of their colleagues have dropped out of business due to the raid. The constant need to survive the harsh economic situation in the country is one of the major reasons the traders had to continue their trade on the railways. They urged the government to intervene and save them from the looming business disaster by creating a market space with lower prices than those of the shops worth millions of naira.
When Saturday Sun visited the Agege-Ikeja rail markets on Tuesday evening, most of the sales points were empty. Passengers, buyers and sellers have reduced drastically to the nearest minimum. It’s almost as if the rail tracks never held any crowds. This popular rail market known for its sales of fairly used wears, shoes, bags, belts and lots more, has lost its sales life. While waiting for customers to arrive, some of the traders spoke to our correspondent on how the hike in prices of shops has contributed to their sales on railways.
Miss Juliet sells leggings and underwear along the rail. She lamented bitterly on how the raid has affected her business.
Her words: “Government doesn’t want anybody to be on the rail tracks and it’s not like we also love to put our lives in danger but many of staying here don’t have a choice because the price of shops around here ranges from N800,000 and N1,000,000 respectively. After the task force came, sales have been dull. Business is not moving. The raid has made everyone broke because of our goods that the task force took and never returned. Many people don’t have money to continue business and are now struggling to feed themselves and family. No more early morning market. We don’t even put all our goods out because of the fear that they may come and pack goods at any time. Nobody uses umbrella nowadays. Everybody displays their goods on the floor. I lost goods worth N400,000. Soldiers, police and touts calling themselves task force members invaded the market.
“Before, we used to go twice in a day but now I’m even scared of going out at all. Some of us borrowed LAPO money. Many are buying on credit. One of my brothers whose goods were taken has not been in good condition ever since the raid. Many people left the market. Some have gone back to the village. They even pursued beggars who have no roof over their heads. Government should allow poor people breathe. All fingers are not equal. Nobody likes putting their life on the line just to make sales. Many young boys will resort to Yahoo or stealing which will cause more harm than good to the society. Government should provide more job opportunities if they can’t provide a market space for us.”
Daniel is also a rail track trader. He sells jeans along the rails. Said he: “We’ve been coping, although there have not been sales and coping has been very difficult because we run for our lives each time we see the train coming. We were told the reason they came was because they wanted to clear off this place. They don’t want anybody to stay here anymore. Shops around Lagos State are very expensive and the one they are building closer to us here is N1.5 million and we are just struggling to make ends meet. Asking us to leave here is very difficult because we don’t have any other alternative. It would’ve been perfect if the government can provide a new place for us where we can stay to sell our goods. But for now, there is no business. Everybody is just managing, as we don’t have that amount of money to get shops. They collected every of our goods.
I went to borrow from most of my customers that I buy from. Most of them, out of sympathy, borrowed and sold goods for me on credit. So I’ve been trying to sell and repay back. My goods that they took from me was about N400, 000 because I went to buy new goods very early that morning that were worth N200, 000. If you add that to the ones I had before, it was about N400, 000. Government should create other alternatives for us. I can’t say government should give us a time frame for us to leave here because I am not in the right position to determine what will happen next. The only thing I will say is just that the government should try to give us enough time so we can gather up money in other to rent shop elsewhere.”
One of the traders at Agege rail market, who simply identified himself as Franklyn, also sells men’s clothing on the rail. Franklyn was another victim of the task force raid.
When interviewed, he said: “They packed all my goods, everything without remaining one. I won’t be able to get back my goods because they are gone. It’s been one month now since they raided and business has not been good since then. I have to go through my savings in order to start my business afresh. I urge the government to please provide job to people so all of these will reduce. Nobody is happy staying here.”
Joshua is also a victim of the task force raid at the market. He said: “The task force officials came and said they didn’t want any road side market again. Some people whose goods were seized and taken away by the task force people have said they now do other things to make ends meet. Even few of us that are here, we are just managing. That’s why there’s not many people in the market. They packed my goods also. If calculated, it will be about N400,000 worth of goods. I only have few goods which I just got recently.
Business is very dull because people are even afraid to come and buy goods from us. I plead and urge our federal and state government to allow us stay here at least till the end of the year or they should at least prepare a space for us to make our living.”
A man in his early 30s, who identified himself as Blessed, was apparently waiting for potential buyers. He said: “My goods were among the goods that were packed by the task force. Actually, today makes it one month and one week since they raided the market. And since then, we’ve been having a very big issue here. This place is a very big market in Lagos State, but since the Task Force came here, it’s been somehow. Now we sell goods in the evening around 4pm, and I thank God, business has been moving. “In my own opinion, government is supposed to do something for us. I can’t steal. I left my village, came to Lagos to hustle just to feed my family. I can’t do any other work aside business. I came to Lagos immediately I finished my school and that is over five years ago. If government doesn’t want us to stay here, they should do something for us like giving us another space, they can’t forcefully chase us away from here just like that. It’s not fair.”
Madikanaya Ibabuchi, who also sells his goods on the rail tracks, told Saturday Sun: “The government said they don’t need people to sell on the track. Last month, the task force raided here and packed all our goods. They took items worth N153, 000 from me, which I’ve never seen till date.
We went to their office and they said we must sign an undertaking, and we didn’t concur with such an agreement. They need to provide somewhere else for us to sell because we don’t want to steal. That’s why we’re hustling on the street. Our own aim is to hustle and make money by ourselves and not to disturb people that are doing their daily business. They have to provide a place for us to survive because we believe that by our own effort, we can make it. If they chase us out of here, there will be no other place we can stay and hustle and that may make some people do bad things. Therefore, it will be better for them to find us a means to survive.”
