The Nigerian economy may have lost N1.7 billion in one week to the closed mile 12 market in Lagos, BusinessDay investigations and interactions with market operators have shown.
The figure is based on the fact that the Lagos state, the commercial nerve centre of the largest economy on the African sub-region is losing N250 million daily to the market which was closed last Thursday due to crisis in the market which claimed over 10 lives and property worth millions of Naira destroyed.
This is aside from personal losses of more than N500 million worth of perishable goods incurred by the traders and other petty sellers on the very day of the incident whose perishable items have since decayed. Analysts said at the weekend that the development if not resolved quickly would further impoverish Nigerians who are currently being subjected to varying degrees of hardships due to scarcity of petrol and darkness due to reduction in the output in electricity.
Mile 12 market is considered to be the biggest market which is being patronized by traders and consumers from the six geo-political zones of this country, a development that continued closure would adversely affect the economy. It is also seen as a market where numerous food items are sold in bulk and at the cheapest price possible to myriads of local buyers as well as exported beyond the shores of the country.
A reliable source in the market who spoke with BusinessDay on the condition of anonymity disclosed that the local government generates over N20m as revenue from the Mile 12 market which is now under lock and key.
“We have different sections in this market and the amount they pay varies.
The perishable items section where we have the tomatoes, onions, cabbage and other food items pays N4.6m, the yam depot section is N3.4m and the transporters plus Iyaloja side will be around N10m, if not more. We deliver the money to the local government”, the source told BusinessDay.
When BusinessDay visited the market on Friday, few traders who sneaked inside the market to sell their wares most of which were almost decaying say they are still counting their huge losses.
“Almost all my goods are now rotten as you can see from this basket of tomatoes. A basket I was supposed to sell for N8, 000 or even N9, 000, I cannot get a buyer to buy it for N3, 500 because most of them are now bad. Government should know that many of us depend on this to feed our families, they are just punishing us by closing this market”, Musa Haruna, a trader at Mile 12 market said.
Another trader in the market who gave his name simply as Ismali told BusinessDay that they are forced to go as far as Mowe and Ijebu to buy some of the food items which are now scarce after his losing so much from the Mile 12 fracas.
“The goods I bought last week just wasted for nothing, I could not even sell much because my goods were scattered everywhere when the fight broke out. Since government closed this market, trailers have not been offloading food items here. We have to go as far as Ile epo, Mowe and even Ijebu express to buy tomatoes, onions, cabbage and many other food items at almost twice the normal price, that is if we even see some of the items that we want to buy”, Ismali added.
“I cannot even begin to say how much I lost during this fight last week. I even had to borrow money to buy this small market to sell so my children and I don’t die of hunger. Even at that, seeing the goods to buy and the price is a big problem for us. We cannot find a bag or even half bag of onions to buy anywhere now. It’s just small baskets of onions like this that we can see after serious searching. A small basket we usually buy for N400 or N500 maximum is now selling for around N1, 500. I heard they are offloading onions around Ijebu expressway and that is where people are rushing to buy onions now”, Ronke Adebayo, a trader who shops in Mile 12 and sells at Oshodi said.
Ogechi Unegbu, another trader at the same market said, “They offload some goods at the back of the market around midnight. Before we can come around to buy, the Hausa people have bought all the goods and they resale to us at a higher price. An Hausa man bought a bag of onions for N6, 000 and sold it to me for N7, 000 when I came around very early this morning around 6am”
Aare Akanji, Youth Chairman, Mile 12 market appealed to the government to open the market as many people depend on the market for their daily livelihood.
“This is where everyone relies on, government is not supposed to leave this market locked for this long. They closed Ketu market on Monday but they opened it again on Wednesday. Since last week that they closed this market, all the goods which includes tomatoes, onions, cabbage, cucumber, pepper and so many other food items have spoiled and traders are really having a hard time coping with all these loses”, Akanji told BusinessDay.
The operators are eagerly waiting for the reopening of the market to bring to an end losses they consider would take some time to recover.
CHINWE AGBEZE
