Adeleke Adesanya

Pickpockets, petty thieves, others scare away customers, traders lament

Traders in Africa’s largest mobile phone market, Computer Village, Ikeja, Lagos, are lamenting the atrocities of hoodlums who roam the market with evil intentions.

According to them, the fear of the hoodlums has now resulted in low sales, as buyers are mostly scared  stiff of enter the market, especially the ones who have had horrible experiences in the hands of the hoodlums in the past.

A phone seller at Otigba Street, who simply identified herself as Blessing, said the Lagos State Government needed to flush out miscreant from the market.

According to her, most of the hoodlums who stay on adjacent roads to the market and soliciting for customers, have ulterior motives.

“Most of them are thieves who pick pockets or defraud customers who come to the market to buy phones. It is time the state government flushed them out because they keep multiplying in the market daily, making customers feel unsafe to come to Computer Village again,” she said.

Another phone seller, Dauda Rasak, said, “Though government needs to reorganise the market, not all the boys hawking phones in Computer Village are thieves. Most of the boys that perpetrate evil are from Ipodo, at the other side. If the government wants to flush them out of this market, they must start from Ipodo because that is their major base. That is where they take drugs, smoke and drink before they come to this market  to carry out their atrocities.”

When asked about the impact of the police post situated in the market, Dauda, alleged, “That is not a police post. It is a business  centre. Most cases that are supposed to be handled are neglected because of the money given to them by the hoodlums. The police officers there, especially those women, are only there to make money. They are more concerned about the money than the safety of the people in this market. With them, I don’t see how the hoodlums will be flushed out of this market.

“Sanwo-Olu should send task force and soldiers to deal with them, especially during this festive season.”

Meanwhile, a chairman of the phone sellers’ association, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said he had reported the hoodlums’ activities at area F Command, as the robbery activities of the hoodlums are reported to him every week.

He promised to go a step further by taking the matter to the Governor’s office, especially as the festivity period approaches.

Recall that the Lagos State Government has reiterated plans to relocate the Computer Village from Ikeja to the ICT Park in Katangowa, Agbado/Oke-Odo Local Council Development Area.

According to the Special Adviser to the Governor on E-GIS and Planning Matters, Olajide Babatunde, “We are trying to reorganise all our markets. I will give you an example. In Ikeja, we have a Computer Village. The Computer Village is being relocated now.

“We are relocating them to Katangowa. But it is not just the Computer Village alone. Other activities will happen in the Katangowa market.

“In the next coming weeks, you will see government efforts on Katangowa. So, we are moving these people who seem to be on the road in Ikeja; also obstructing traffic, into a proper market, big enough with all the services, including creche for their children, schools, playgrounds, mosques, churches, accommodation and hotel facilities, storage rooms, warehouses.

“We are trying to do things in a proper way. We are working on all of these things to make sure that we regenerate, redevelop, renovate, conserve.

“Anything that we need to do in terms of the terminologies that we have in urban development will be put to play in Lagos in a way that you are going to have a greater Lagos.”