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By Jessica Onyike
The President general of Alaba International Amalgamated Council of Sectional heads, Chief Camilus Amajuoyi has said that the vision of his administration is to restore the glory of Alaba as a true international market.
In this interview, Amajuoyi who is also the president of International Market Association, Electronics Section (IMAE), spoke among other issues on the challenges confronting his administration.
It has been one and half years since you were elected as the president of International Market Association, Electronics section, how is the feeling like?
Well, I want to say that it has not been easy. They say uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. A lot of people think that it is just a mere saying but it is a reality. Since I assumed office as the president of International market association, Electronics in October 2022, it has challenges upon challenges but it is the passion that I have for the market that is seeing me through. I see Alaba market like a sick child that must not die, but rather must survive and flourish. So, no matter the obstacles, we keep on pushing. My vision when I was elected was to complete a lot of projects and by the grace of God and help from my able executives, within one year and seven months of our coming on board, I have solved a lot of the problems that were confronting us. One of them was the issue of touts that were terrorizing us here in the market. But through concerted efforts, we have driven the touts out of the market that now Alaba has become very conducive for everybody to come and do his or her business without any fear of extortion, harassment and intimidation. The other one was the issue of electricity. We have now introduced what is known as load shading, which is every 5 o’clock in the evening, all the traders in the market would remove all the fuse from their electricity and change over to solar energy. The change over to solar is helping to guard against fire outbreak and also ensure uninterrupted power supply in the market. There is also another issue that has been existing in the market for decades now which is flood. We have decided to deal permanently with it and we are now constructing a drainage that would be taking all the floods in the market away. The drainage is of the Julius Berger standard and we are building it with the specification of Lagos State government and it has cost the market over N50 million.
The issue of security is paramount in every market, how have you been tackling it?
Since I became the president, I have been beefing up the security. I am certainly not doing this alone. I am in this with the Police, Army and the Department of State Security(DSS). The Commandant of Ojo Military Cantonment, the DPO of Ojo Police Station and the director of DSS in Ojo have been very wonderful in this exercise; that is why we are no longer seeing issue of breaking of shops, warehouses and so on.
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When you were campaigning, your manifesto was the New Face of Alaba, how far have you gone in achieving that?
Well, my vision is to reposition Alaba International market architecturally, structurally and otherwise. Before we came on board, people were using umbrella as shops and that was defacing the market but we have ordered them to remove them so that the architectural design of the market will be seen. We are also digitalizing the market to conform with international standard. We have gone beyond analogue. So our one and half year in office is a success and I am very sure that no administration before us has achieved what we achieved within so short a time.
What was the real reason why some shops were demolished in the market?
I want to say without mincing words that the demolition was done because of vested interest. It is not really because the shops were near the canal. Even the Lagos State agency in charge of buildings has admitted that the demolitions were carried out in error. As I speak, some of the owners of the demolished shops have died heart- broken because they lost their only means of livelihood. Some are bedridden because of hypertension induced stroke. Some of them, their children are no longer going to school because they can no longer afford the fees for their children. So I am pleading with Lagos State government to compensate the victims of the demolitions because they are going through hell. Their shops were demolished simply because some people want a road into their business premises and never because the shops were built near the canal. So, they deserve to be compensated so that they would return to their businesses.
The main access road to the market is in a very deplorable state. What are you people doing about it?
There is a saying that to whom much is given, much is also expected. I want to thank God for the amiable governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. He is really doing a wonderful job in the state. When he was campaigning for his second term of office, he came to Alaba and we assured him of support which we fulfilled. So I want to use this medium to let him know that the main access road to Alaba has become a death trap. I mean the road that comes from Volks. Cars are getting stuck on the pot holes on the road and even trailers conveying containers to the market swing from one side to the other which is very risky. We are begging him to come and help us to fix the road. Alaba is generating billions of naira revenue for the state government and as such should not be left in a deplorable state. We have gone to the chairman of Ojo Local government and he told us that the road is a state and therefore, he cannot do anything about it. I want to plead that if they don’t have the resources to reconstruct the road, they should at least rehabilitate by filling the potholes in order to make it safe and motorable. The rainy season is almost here and if nothing is done pretty soon, the road would become impassable. We are also appealing to the honourable member representing Ojo in the Lagos State House of Assembly to help us in this regard.
