Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos on Thursday
said that the State Government would allow immediate reconstruction of the
razed Okobaba Plank Market in Ebute Metta.
The News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that fire on Tuesday razed no fewer than 50
makeshift houses and several sawmill in the market. Fashola said while
addressing the traders when he visited the market that reconstruction would
only commence after a new government`s plan for the market had been issued. He
said the age-long chaotic arrangement of the market and the haphazard way in
which traders operated probably caused the tragedy, saying that the situation
was a threat to lives and properties.
See more after the cut....
``We are coming to clear the rubble here and
nobody should build here without town planning approval. We won`t let you do
it. ``And this is the process to beginning to re-separate sawmill and plank
business from other residential activities and gradually we can clean this
place up. ``After the clean-up of this place, you will still stay here while
those who want to move will move.
``We can make this place just the Lagos Plank
Market and move the timber people away. But there are so many things we can do
here. ``In other places in the world, this is the kind of places; we will go
and pay money to visit if we organise it properly.
``We have to do business in a way that
protects lives and properties. You can save a lot by having insurance on your
stalls and buildings. We should begin to do things right,’’
Fashola said. He said a new plank market was
being built to resettle some of the traders in the market, saying that the new
market would have no fewer than 3,000 homes nearby. While sympathising with the
displaced traders and residents, Fashola pledged that the State Government
would resettle them briefly in a relief camp where they would be given some
relief materials.
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