Faronbi Aswani International Market is located on Osolo Way, Isolo, Lagos. The weekly market is popular for selling clothing materials, both ready-made and fairly used.
Over the years, the market has enjoyed high patronage from far and near. Traders come to do business in the market from as far as Ghana, Benin Republic and other neighbouring countries.
However, in recent times, the once popular market has witnessed drastic drop in patronage. Traders now lament lack of sales. They also complain about lack of space and the exorbitant money they pay weekly for store space, benches and tables in the market.
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A woman, who sells fairly used clothes, Mrs. Ruth Chinedu, told The Nigerian Xpress that despite their paying N1000 for space, N200 for table and N50 for benches, they still find it difficult to pay and get space allocation as a result of the deplorable state of some sections of the market. The market has been taken over by swamp and whenever it rains, and the entire market becomes flooded, leaving the in perils, without shelter, no thanks to the failure of the Isolo Local Council Development Area to develop the market.
As small as this place is, we pay N1000 every week for the space and we also pay N200 for table and N100 for bench every week we come here. Our question is that with all this money they collect from us, the market is still this bad, what are they doing with the money we pay?” Mrs. Chinedu queried.
However, when The Nigerian Xpress met with the market leader, Alhaja Sherifat Faronbi Olalekan, the Iyaloja of the market, she said the market’s deplorable state was caused as a result of abandoned building projects embarked upon by the Isolo Local Council Development Area through a local developer, which has been abandoned for over five years now.
“The displacement of traders in the market and their selling at deplorable places is as a result of the stoppage of work of building of shops by the developers, who were commissioned by the council to build the shop for our marketers. We have made frantic efforts to get them back to site and complete what they started but to no avail, as they keep telling us they are coming. They have started this construction before my ascension of office in 2015.
Since my assumption as Iyaloja of the market, I have been on them to return to site and complete the buildings. When we call them they keep saying they are coming but they never show up. They told us that they were having challenges, getting funds to complete the project,” the Iyaloja said.
She blamed the council for not being proactive and responsive to the plights of the traders over the years they have been calling on them for help.
“The council has done nothing on the market since then. This market is an international one; I implore the council to hearken to our calls and come to our aid in completing the project. As you can see, they have dug the land to a very deep level that even if we say we want to do the refilling ourselves we can’t because of the length of the excavation they did and that is what gave room for the swamp you see around the market where people sell their goods. So, we appeal to the council to please help us out in this mess we are in. In fact, traders have been complaining about lack of sales as a result of their displacement. Some of them have quit coming since they have nowhere to place their goods,” she said.
Alhaja Faronbi-Olalekan stated that she hopes that once the buildings are completed, the market would be open daily for business while the weekly will also go side by side.
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This market is a weekly market. We hope to make it a daily market if the government helps us to finish the construction projects embarked upon over five years now. People from Ghana, Benin Republic and other neighbouring countries; states like Sokoto, Anambra, Abia, Enugun, among others used to patronise the market before now and it used to be a beehive of activities. But since the developers have come to start their development project in the market things have changed and we now experience decline in sales because people have stopped coming in their numbers,” she said.
The Nigerian Xpress also spoke with the General Secretary to the market, Mr. Nafiu Oyedele, who also asked the council to help them call the developers to complete the building project to enable traders have access to decent shop spaces.
When The Nigerian Xpress visited the Isolo Local Council Development Area to verify the claims by the traders and their leaders, the Assistant Information Officer at the information unit of the council said she couldn’t say anything over the issue and directed our correspondent to the office of the Market Master.
However, the Market Master was not available at the time The Nigerian Xpress visited. A call was put to his phone number but he neither picked it nor responded to text message sent to him.
