Group decries displacement of traders as Lagos redevelops markets

A civic group, the De Renaissance Patriots Foundation, has raised concerns over the displacement of traditional traders amid the ongoing redevelopment of markets across Lagos State.

In a statement on Sunday titled “Lagos Markets: Between Heritage and Modernity”, the group, led by its president Miftah Are, said redevelopment efforts across Lagos Island, the Mainland, Badagry, Ikorodu, and Epe have resulted in the demolition of long-standing open markets.

The foundation lamented that these open markets, once central to community commerce, are being replaced by multi-storey complexes with rents and service charges beyond the reach of traditional traders.

“Open markets that have served indigenes and dwellers for generations are demolished and replaced with towering, multi-storey complexes. These new edifices, often impressive in design, demand rents and service charges far beyond the reach of the traditional trader,” the statement partly read.

The group noted that many of these redeveloped markets remain partially unoccupied due to the high costs, forcing displaced traders to resort to informal street trading nearby in order to survive.

Tracing Lagos’ commercial history to its early barter system, the foundation said trade in the city evolved organically from open squares where fishermen, farmers, and merchants exchanged goods long before structured currency existed.

It highlighted historic markets such as Oja Ereko, Oke Arin, Ebute-Ero, Ita-Balogun, Jankara, Pelewura, and Sandgrouse, describing them as centres that nurtured entrepreneurship and produced generations of professionals.

“From humble beginnings emerged a vibrant mercantile civilisation. These markets were not merely centres of commerce but of culture. News travelled faster than the tide; traditions were preserved; apprentices learnt trade at their mothers’ stalls; and semi-literate but economically astute traders built generational wealth. Many of today’s families in law, medicine, engineering, banking, and public service trace their roots to these markets. They were, in truth, Lagos’ first economic universities,” the statement said.

While acknowledging the importance of improved sanitation, safety, and infrastructure, the foundation stressed that modernization should not come at the expense of inclusion.

“What we increasingly witness across the five regions of Lagos State is not mere modernisation but displacement. Many petty traders and artisans now find themselves priced out of the system,” it said.

The group urged state authorities to implement phased redevelopment plans that guarantee affected traders can return at affordable rates, incorporate open-air sections for low-capital merchants, and ensure meaningful consultation before any demolition.

“True development should be inclusive. It should consult traders before demolition and blend tradition with innovation, not replace one with the other,” the statement added.

The foundation warned that failure to balance modernisation with heritage could weaken the grassroots economic structures that have historically sustained Lagos, calling on the government to “modernise, but modernise with memory.”