RECENTLY Ondo State Government placed a total ban on trading along the vehicular traffic lanes, pedestrian paths and walkways in Akure, the state capital.
THE decision is a follow up on the outcome of a report by a Committee on Waste Management in Akure.
THE report include a ban placed on artisans such as vulcanizers whose activities impede free flow of vehicular traffic, especially on the market corridors.
SIMPLY put, traders and artisans who have encroached on the main road and walkways in Arakale Market and Oja Oba along Oba Adesida road, Akure were directed to vacate such unauthorised trading spots with effect from Monday January 11, 2021.
THIS directive becomes pertinent in view of the abuse and brazen disregard to the status of Akure. It was particularly a major source of concern that vehicular and pedestrian traffic contended for space amid trading activities on the road
IN order for the directive to be fully obeyed, the State’s Special Task Force swung into action on Monday January 11, 2021.
BEFORE the present ban by Akeredolu’s administration, successive governments in the state had tried all they could to enforce this law but it became one hard nut to crack.
THE traders threw caution to the wind by brazenly displaying their goods on the main road, creating chaos, blocking pedestrian and vehicular ways, distorting the master plan of the main road, contending with vehicles on the highway, thereby endangering their lives on daily basis.
THE traders’ activities became unacceptable and left the state government with no option than to protect the interest of the larger majority of people who are daily slowed down by the activities of road side traders who also littered the road with refuse turning the affected area into an eyesore and embarrassment to visitors. For traders to abandon the various markets in the state capital for road side trading is an invitation to anarchy, chaos and sudden death and should not be allowed by a serious government.
THE HOPE supports and commends the state government on the road side trading ban. In major countries of the world like France, United States, United Kingdom and other developed nations, road side trading is not allowed.
GOVERNMENT should step up its enforcement as it is still observed that the traders only complied with the ban order during the working hours, only to return in the evening hours.
IT should also deploy resources to enforce the ban and extend it to other major towns in the state like Akungba-Akoko, to guide against further loss of lives as a result of unforeseen circumstances including accidents. It would be recalled that sixteen people lost their lives in Akungba-Akoko on October 31, 2020 when a truck plunged into the roadside market after suffering a brake failure. The saving grace that mitigated the casualties was that the students in the university in the town were at home during the lockdown.
IN the face of economic recession, fall in naira, and unemployment, we urge the government that in enforcing this law, it should also make provisions for alternative business centres or an evening market for hawkers who rely mainly on this business for their daily bread. Markets that are cheap, modern, accessible and affordable should be provided for the traders in locations where they can easily get customers to buy their goods.
HAWKERS and urchins who clean motor windscreens on the highway should also be barred for smooth traffic as they constitute a menace along the Oba Adesida road. Same gesture should be extended to children beggars who have turned the place to money making venture.
ALSO, beggars and touts on the road should be relocated, as they are constituting public nuisance and may eventually turn to road side robbers, terrorizing innocent citizens at night.
FINALLY, members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers taxi section should find an alternate means of collecting their daily dues outside public highway, while those parking indiscriminately along the road axis should be disallowed.