First Watch: What the next governor of Lagos State should do for us (11)

When one is coming out of the Ogudu G.R.A. and one wishes to travel towards Oworonshoki, the street one passes through and the adjoining streets make up an open market where tomatoes, peppers and other food items are on display for sale. These streets are outside of the government layout. The question that arises is why is an open market not an integral part of the Ogudu G.R.A. or of any other government layout. Is food not a basic need of the people living in these layouts? In long established neighbourhoods outside government layouts such as Bariga, one finds open markets on long stretches of the road as one moves from the C.M.S Grammar School towards Oworonshoki. This particular road should be a major route for traffic but market activities restrict traffic flow. We should therefore find spaces in all our neighbourhoods, new and old, for open markets for food items. The Lagos State Government, LASG, released in 1981 the Lagos State Regional Plan for the period 1980 to 2000. Governor Jakande in his introduction to the plan stated that many of the popular towns and districts sprung up as contraventions and government accepted them as defacto townships given the scale of the contraventions. These settlements include Ajegunle, Aiyetoro, Onibaba, Badia, Amukoko, Coker Village, Makoko, Somolu, Bariga, Oworonshoki, Ketu, Ojota, Ilado, Maroko, Aguda and J.M.J. quarters while newer settlements were being established at Ejigbo, Egbe and Akowonjo among others. In these settlements, the pattern of development was such that footpaths for pedestrian access which were essentially the boundaries between different land owners were expanded into the main roads through the settlements. Governor Jakande made arrangements for streets to be linked together within and between these settlements to make for easier access. The 1980 to 2000 regional plan indicated the different land areas to be used for residential, agricultural, industrial, conservation and other purposes. In the Lekki peninsula for example, a lot of the land zoned for agricultural purposes is being used or being proposed to be used for residential purposes. The Victoria Island to Lekki to Epe expressway is the one road through the length of the area. There is need for persons on either side of the expressway to be able to move about on their side of the expressway without having to make use of the expressway. Alternative routes were recently provided in this area for persons who do not wish to pay toll charges on the expressway. A lot needs to be done to create routes through the different land holdings on either side of the expressway. There is pressure on agricultural land in other parts of the state. There have been reports of the activities of land grabbers in the Ikorodu-Imota area and one of the places mentioned in the reports is Igbokuta where there are farms with a lot of kolanut trees. LASG should therefore introduce new zoning plans for the state and should support the zoning plans by acquiring land corridors to be used for major roads in an area long before any development starts in the area. Land owners would be required to submit their layout plans in conformity with the zoning plans.