Traders and business owners affected by the demolition of the Ikotun Roundabout expansion in Lagos’ Alimosho Local Government Area in 2020 are now seeking assistance after over 90 shops were affected. The state government had engaged the shop owners before the demolition, assuring compensation post-construction. However, these promises remain unfulfilled, leaving the affected individuals in distress.
Innocent Umeze, one of the shop owners with two demolished shops, revealed that the state authorities had appraised each shop at N3 million before demolition. The government representatives, including those from the Ministries of Transportation and Urban and Physical Planning, had assured compensation after the demolition, but this pledge remains unmet. Despite the prompt restoration of other damaged shops post-# #EndSARS protests, the affected shop owners are yet to receive the promised compensation for their demolished shops.
Another shop owner, Kolawole Ademola, stressed that the shops were a primary source of livelihood for many owners. With the demolition, these individuals are now struggling to sustain their living.
“We were invited to the Alausa secretariat before the demolition and the state government promised us heaven and earth. They also came to the place to value the shops. After the demolition, we wrote some letters asking them to fulfill their promise but we did not get any response. It was in the process that they requested our allocation papers and account numbers but nothing came out of it.
“The shops were a means of livelihood for some of the owners. But since they failed to fulfill their part of the bargain, they have been struggling to live. Some of their children have dropped out of school as a result. Some of them had been forced to return to their villages,” he said.
During a visit to the place on Saturday, our correspondent observed that the demolished structures had been left the same way since then.
Petty traders have since occupied the shops which were yet to be renovated.
Speaking on the development, Uche Stephen, who owns three shops in the complex, said, “The premises of the demolished complex had been given to traders who sell market there in the evening while they collect some levies from them every week.”
The Ikotun/Igando council chairman, Lasisi Akinsanya, while reflecting on the matter said the council was no longer involved in the process relating to the compensation of the victims.
He said, “It was not the local government that demolished the shops, it was the state government. And that is why the state government is dealing directly with them. There is a committee set up which includes some of the shop owners.”
When contacted, the state Commissioner for Information, Gbenga Omotosho, promised to get updates on the development.
“I suspect the Ministry of Transportation carried out the project under the junction improvement program. I will find out tomorrow,” he said.
