The Lagos State Government has said traders at the Ladipo Auto Spare Parts Market must clean up the area, as well as create sanitation monitoring team before the market can fully be reopened.

Recall that the Lagos State Waste Management Agency had on Friday, July 29, 2021, announced the partial closure of the market over sanitation infractions.

When our correspondent visited the market, he noticed commercial activities were on a low scale.

However, the Managing Director, LAWMA, Mr Ibrahim Odumboni, told our correspondent that the government was ready to reopen the markets if the traders fulfilled the conditions given to them.

“They should clean up the canal; employ people – like a monitoring team – that will stop people from pouring things inside that canal. They must tidy up the market. Then, they should take pictures of the market and give us an action plan of what they will be doing every month to ensure that it is clean. Then, we will open the market.”

Odumboni explained that the market was shut after repeated warnings by LAWMA were ignored.

“If you go to Ladipo market, you will see that the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has cleared the drain behind the market; but the traders have been pouring waste inside the drain. We provide them with four bins and we have been picking the waste for over a year now, they refused to pay for the services.

“We called them, served them notice of contravention more than five times, they ignored them.

“There is also the aspect of outstanding debt, but it is not the reason we closed the market. They should find a robust system of waste management and stop pouring waste in the canal.”

But, the President General of Ladipo market association, Mr Jude Nwankwo, said the market leadership did not receive any notice from the government.

“However, we are in discussion; we are also talking about alleged debt issue because we don’t owe them. We had a meeting with them and we have been working on what they asked us to do.

“I am the president of Ladipo market and no one has served me any letter. We observe our normal environmental sanitation every Thursday and the market sets aside a day every three months for environmental sanitation.

“That drainage system leads to so many places, so once it rains, a lot of waste or refuse are moved from other places, so they cannot say we are the ones blocking the canal. But we will just have to follow their instructions.”