Unconfirmed story making the rounds in Ishaga axis of Iju in the Ifako/Ijaiye Local Government Areas, has it that when the ongoing construction of shops in the Iju Market is done, a shop will be sold to the traders for N5m by the local government that is the owner of the shops.
Hamzat, Ifako/Ijaiye LGA chairman
The lock-up shops, which was a story building was pull down months ago by the LG for reconstruction and re-modelling and right now, the re-building has reached roofing level and instead of the story building it was, the LG has opted for bungalow building with several blocks of shops in answer to the complain of the traders that those who were lucky to get shops upstairs rarely get patronised as buyers do not come upstairs to patronise them instead they patronise those on the ground floor or along the road.
Shop space that may sell for N5m
Workers are frantically working every day of the week to complete the rebuilding but the fear of potential traders/buyers of the shop is that a shop is rumoured to be sold at N5m, a price tag that many of the traders consider as outrageous.
Another fear most of them who previously owned shops there before it was pulled down is that they may not get their shops back as top politicians, civil servants, top LG staff will allocate the shops to themselves/fronts who will in turn sell to end users.
According to a man who sells mobile phone and it’s accessories who previously owned a shop there but who is not sure if he can muster the new price to pay for the new shop had this to say, ” the N5m is not the issue; the real problem is if the LG will not come again in five years time and pull the shops down for reconstruction after all, the one they pulled down three months ago was not up to 10 years. The shops na ATM now for the LG”
When we tried to get Mr. Lateef Salaam the LG’s head of media, to confirm or deny, through WhatsApp, if the shops will sell for the N5m price tag the response we got was “I can’t confirm your information on the Iju-Ishaga market now. ”
As for the James Street, which the LG started it’s reconstruction last year and has abandoned due to what the same Mr. Salaam had told us on our earlier report on the two projects, he said “…. and James Street construction is still ongoing. “
The Iju Market stalls were first built in the days of Hon. Toba Oke as the chairman of the LG.
