Still on the Yaba market closure

I passed through the popular Yaba market and was amazed that the ever bubbling market is now a shadow of itself. I saw the traders waiting by the roadside, though still selling their wares. They were mostly looking dejected, waiting in anticipation for good news from the state government.

It is about a month now that the traders allegedly attacked KAI officials with a female KAI officer suffering a severe cut to her face in the ensuing saga. The action of the traders is totally unacceptable. Not for any reason should a citizen of a country attack government officials or anybody except self-defense.

I heard the stories of the traders too. The KAI officials have been extorting money from them on daily basis. Many a times, the KAI officials would seize their wares, never to be returned.

It is wrong for the traders to bribe government officials to either hawk or sell around places not approved. In the same vein, it is wrong for the KAI officials to encourage them by demanding bribes from them. This article also intends to draw the attention of Lagos state government to the uncultured men they recruit into the KAI as well as the LASTMA. LASTMA???  A story for another day.

I implore the state government to make a final and decisive action/statement regarding the market. It’s so sad seeing these able-bodied men who have decided not to delve into vices to just sit around without hope of the future. Our elders used to say, ‘an idle mind is the devil workshop’.