The Lagos State government yesterday said the electrical and electronics section of the Oshodi Main Market was shut down because it constituted an environmental menace.
It added that the move was aimed at sanitising and beautifying the Oshodi area and bringing transformation in particular, to the Owonifari area where the market is located, as well as the entire Oshodi bus stop terminal.
A statement signed by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, noted that the government had said that all the traders and shop owners at the Oshodi market were to be relocated to the newly-built Isopakodowo market, about 500 metres away at Bolade area.
When our correspondent visited the market yesterday, demolition of a section of the market had started while the fencing-off of part on Agege Motor Road that stretches from the Ilupeju end of Oshodi to the PWD/Ikeja GRA end had also commenced.
“The Owonifari loop will be transformed into an ultra modern bus terminus with new bus shelters befitting of a structured park in a mega city like Lagos”, he said.
The statement added that the fencing-off of the long stretch was being undertaken to assist the federal government and the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC)in particular with a view to beautifying it and safeguarding lives along the railway by discouraging street trading and indiscriminate use of the space.
Ayorinde added that the ongoing fencing-off and beautification of the road set-back from Ilupeju bypass to PWD/Ikeja GRA would constitute the first phase of the transformation of the Oshodi area.
The second phase, he said, would begin from PWD/Ikeja GRA and stretch to Agege-Pen Cinema axis.