Alaba traders lament high level of extortion by Ojo council workers, sends SOS to Sanwo-Olu

Traders at Alaba International Market, Ojo, Lagos State, have appealed to the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to come to their aid over the menace of Ojo local government workers.

According to them, all that the workers in the council do is to extort traders and customers going in the market under different disguises.

They said that the attitude of the council workers was negatively affecting business transactions in the market.

The traders said that truck drivers pay an upward of N50,000 to different sets of Council workers, from Volkswagen Bus stop to Alaba International Market.

According to them, even customers who come to the market to buy electronics equipment are also extorted on their way out of the market, adding that such has been making them to be losing valuable customers as a lots of them no longer come back.

A dealer in the market, Chinedu Okonkwo, said that doing business in Alaba was increasingly becoming frustrating because of the activities of the Council workers.

According to him, customers were no longer coming to the market because of the way they are being harassed by the workers of the local government.

He said that the Council workers have constituted themselves into different taskforces to be extorting traders and customers.

According to him, one of the taskforces was said to be allegedly collecting revenue for Oba of Ojo.

“To bring containers to Alaba market now, you have to pay through your nose because of the Council workers who line themselves along the road leading into the market. Once they see any container coming into Alaba, they will block the only road until the driver gives them money. They don’t even mind that they are obstructing free flow of traffic. That is the main reason why traffic does not move freely along Alaba road. I am calling on Governor Sanwo-Olu to come to our aid,” Okonkwo said.