By Akinwale Kasali
Hundreds of Mechanics and Automobile Technicians under the aegis of Nigeria Automobile and Techinicians Association, NATA, took to the streets of Lagos to protest against the demolition of their workshops in different parts of the State by the Lagos State Government.
The Group marched to the Lagos State House of Assembly decrying the forceful seizure of the Mechanic villages by the Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration, indicting Toyin Fayinka, Special Adviser to Governor Sanwo-Olu on Transportation of converting the seized and demolished villages for personal use and gain.
The protesting NATA members carried placards with different inscriptions which said: ‘We want our mechanic villages back,’ ‘Leave our mechanic village alone’, ‘COVID-19 is not killing us, Lagos Government is killing us’, to show their grievances against this development as they chanted Aluta songs, marching towards the Lagos State House of Assembly Complex in Alausa, Secretariat, Ikeja, grounding vehicular movements.
NATA called on Governor Sanwo-Olu and Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa to save them from hardship and stop his Cabinet members from selling their yards and workshops.
Other inscriptions written on the placards are: “Lagos Lands Bureau, Lagos Ministry of Physical Planning, Stop this Inhumanity,’ ‘Leave Owutu Mechanic Village Alone,’ ‘Destroying People’s Livelihoods Contribute to Crime and Insecurity, Stop It,’.
The Group alleged that Toyin Fayinka, Special Adviser to Governor Sanwo-Olu on Transportation misinformed the Governor leading to the seizure and demolition of their shops at the Mechanic villages.
It called on the Governor to remove Fayinka, while displaying placards with the following inscriptions; “Fayinka must go! Fayinka is a thief,” the workers kept chanting in their number.
“Toyin Fayinka has turned his position as special adviser on transportation to the governor to that of land grabber and speculator; Fayinka must go,” one of the placards reads.
In a statement, the Chairperson of NATA in Lagos, Jacob Fayeun, said the workers have suffered so much injustice in the hands of the present administration as many of their workshops are being taken from them.
“It was during the Alhaji Lateef Jakande’s administration in Lagos in 1981 that we were allotted mechanic clusters known as mechanic villages to curb the menace of the problematic ‘roadside mechanics’ littering Lagos neighbourhoods before that time.
“Unfortunately, since 1999, these public spaces, many of them in difficult marshy areas and canal setbacks redeveloped by the mechanics at great expenses are being systematically stolen by government officials under various pretext.
“Most of these places are swampy areas, after developing it, they will turn back and take it from us,” Fayeun said.
Fayeun also alleged that Fayinka, has taken six workshops from them at Ladipo and turned two of them to ‘park and pay.’
“Fayinka took six in Ladipo alone, throughout Lagos, they demolished 11 mechanic villages. We want the Lagos state government to direct Fayinka to return all the demolished mechanic villages and lands.
“The said Fayinka took over a workshop belonging to a mechanic, Adediran Ogunmuyiwa last September 2019. The forceful take-over led to a protracted illness and death of the poor man on May 25, 2020.
“Fayinka also demolished the Ifelagba Mechanic Village through the Lagos State Land Bureau because we refused to pay an arbitrary levy of N57.5 million imposed on us, apart from the annual Ground Rent we pay to the Ministry of Transport.
“He has also taken over our workshops in Ladipo, Mushin which he has turned to a “Park n Pay’ lot from where he makes millions of naira daily,” Fayeun disclosed.
He added that scores of mechanic villages, neighbourhood markets, Saw-mills and other commercial places have been taken over by “Government officials and their allies without alternative provision, leaving thousands of Lagosians and their families jobless and destitute.
“Unfortunately, the Lagos State Government has shown utter disdain for the Nigerian Constitution which under Section 16 (2D) guarantees the right of all Nigerians to gainful employment .”
Addressing the Protestants outside the House of Assembly Complex, Hon. Abiodun Tobun and Hon. Emeka Idimogu, assured them that their complaints would be resolved by the appropriate Committees in the House.
