Tension as Oyo Replaces Cheap Stalls with Costly Shops

The Oyo State government has embarked on the modernization of the popular age-old Gbagi Market, pulling down old stalls and erecting modern shops in their place. The government calls the exercise modernization, but the traders see it as an indirect eviction, saying they cannot afford the new rent. DANIEL AYANTOYE, who visited the market, captures the growing tension.

In Ibadan’s famous Gbagi Market, the rhythm of daily trade has been replaced by the clang of hammers and the rumble of trucks. To the Oyo State Government, the ongoing redevelopment is “modernization.” To the traders, however, it is a slow eviction masked as progress.

Gbagi Market, also known as Oja Gbagi, is Ibadan’s commercial heartbeat and one of Nigeria’s largest fabric hubs, particularly renowned for its vast textile sections and colorful Ankara fabrics.

From its historic roots as a center of trade between indigenous sellers and immigrants, the market has grown into a sprawling economic engine that draws traders and buyers from across Nigeria and West Africa.

Beyond textiles, it also offers foodstuffs, electronics, traditional crafts, and more.

However, the once-happy faces in the market are turning sad over fear of eviction due the ongoing ‘modernization’ taking place in the market. The low-cost stalls are being pulled down to erect modern shops, which, the traders say, are priced beyond the reach.

For 35-year-old Ahmed Alasepe, Gbagi Market was once the foundation of a modest clothing business. He rented a shop for just N100,000 a year. Today, he tills the soil in faraway Eruwa, Ibarapa East—a reluctant farmer, not by choice but by displacement.

     “I was in Gbagi Market before, selling clothes. Everything was moving fine until they came,” he recalled bitterly. “The government contractors told us our shops would be demolished and replaced. They asked me to pay N2.5m. I just couldn’t afford it.”

Alasepe is one of dozens, perhaps hundreds of traders, now in limbo over the ongoing redevelopment of major markets in Oyo State.

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What was once a hub for both petty and big traders has become a construction zone of modern, high-cost shops that many say are designed to favor the wealthy, not the struggling traders. Like Alasepe, another long-time trader, Wasiu Olawuyi, watched his container shop vanish.

     “I was paying N25,000 for a big container shop,” he said. “Now they built this smaller 5×10 shop and told me to pay N1.6m. My entire goods aren’t worth N500,000. How do they expect me to pay?”

His voice trembled with betrayal. “It was we, the poor, who voted Governor Seyi Makinde into office. Now he is pushing us out for the rich to take over.”

Another trader, who gave her name simply as Moyosore, said the development had forced her to take a N5m loan with a N1m interest in order to retain her shop for which she used to pay only N100,000 rent.

     “This is wickedness,” she said, holding back tears. “I was managing my life before. Now, after the construction, the shop is so small. But if I didn’t pay, they said they would give it to someone else. I had no choice”

Rising tension

In the market, tension is building as traders watch their old shops being demolished by government contractors. The government says it is modernization but what the traders see is a calculated system of displacement. The new shops replacing the old ones are beyond their reach. They say spaces that once rented for N20,000 to N30,000 now sell for N1.6m to N7.5m.

Besides, the traders see a distortion of the old market structure or layout with the contractors’ erecting shops on what the traders said used to be car parks for customers.

The frustration boiled over last Monday when the market erupted in protest. Elderly traders, women, and apprentices carried placards reading: “Governor Seyi Makinde, please come to our rescue” and “Save us from destroyers, they have taken the car park!”

A woman who pleaded anonymity for fear of victimization said, “We were told there won’t be car parks anymore. They are building everywhere. Before, we paid N21,000, now it’s N1.6m for a small 5×10 shop and more if you want a bigger size. They said cars should park along the expressway. What if accidents happen?”

A market in chaos

A visit to the market by Saturday PUNCH last week Wednesday and Thursday revealed a chaotic transformation underway. Once-spacious walkways are choked by ongoing construction.

At the Rounda and Ita Wewe sections, traders and customers have been forced into overcrowded corners. The Old and New Ife Expressways are lined by customers’ vehicles, constricting traffic flow. The situation is worsened as roadside traders squat under umbrellas and makeshift stalls, selling just inches from oncoming traffic.

     “I couldn’t afford the new shop,” a foodstuffs trader, Mama Sukurat, says, justifying her relocation to the roadside. “I am here because we must feed.”

For the traders moving to the road, the burden is compounded by safety concerns.

In a chat with our correspondent, a trader, Toun Adewuyi, pointed ahead, “That small section you see now that they parked those cars, they told us that they will also build there; they said we should be parking outside.”

“A market without car parks is like a house without doors,” said Mr. Adeoti, a long-time stakeholder. “It endangers everyone.”

Adeoti said the new construction has not factored in market accidents that may require emergency response.

     “Emergency access is now nearly impossible. With car parks gone and internal spaces constricted, fire trucks or ambulances would struggle to reach inner sections of the market in the event of a fire or stampede,” he observed.

Another trader, Taoreed, expressed fear over the quality of work being done on the modern shops being constructed.

     “They didn’t dig any foundation, and that was how that shop was built,” Taoreed said, pointing to a newly completed row. “They have already told us to move these vehicles because they will build another one there.”

Government defends project

The Oyo State Government, however, has defended its actions, describing the redevelopment as part of a broader initiative to modernise public infrastructure across the state. In a statement issued last week Wednesday by the Commissioner for Investment, Trade, Cooperatives and Industry, Adeniyi Adebisi, the government denied allegations of converting the market’s car park into shops or extorting money from traders through secret allocations.

The government said, “No part of the main designated car park has been taken over or eliminated. The new shops are not situated in the core vehicle parking zone.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Content Credit | Olaoluwa Ayomide

Image credit | punchng.com