By Akonasu GBEDOZIN Cross section of market women The Media Office of the De Renaissance Patriots Foundation has called for inclusive urba...
By Akonasu GBEDOZIN
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| Cross section of market women |
The Media Office of the De Renaissance Patriots Foundation has called for inclusive urban development in Lagos State, warning that ongoing market redevelopment projects risk displacing traditional traders and eroding the city’s mercantile heritage.
In a press statement titled, "Lagos Markets: Between Heritage and Modernity", issued on Sunday February 22, 2026, the group traced Lagos’ commercial roots to its early barter system, long before the introduction of structured currency. It noted that trade in the city evolved organically from open squares where fishermen, farmers and merchants exchanged goods, forming the foundation of what later became a thriving commercial hub.
It explicitly said, "Lagos did not begin with glass towers and gated plazas. It began in open squares."
The foundation highlighted historic markets such as Oja Ereko, Oke Arin, Ebute-Ero, Ita-Balogun, Jankara, Pelewura and Sandgrouse as longstanding centres of commerce and culture. According to the statement, these markets not only facilitated trade but also nurtured entrepreneurship, preserved traditions and supported families who later produced professionals across various fields.
"From that humble beginning emerged a vibrant mercantile civilization. Markets such as Oja Ereko, Oke Arin, Ebute-Ero, Ita-Balogun, Jankara, Pelewura, Sandgrouse and countless others became not merely centres of commerce but centres of culture. They were spaces where news travelled faster than the tide, where traditions were preserved, where apprentices learned industry at their mothers’ stalls, and where semi-literate but economically astute traders built generational wealth through resilience and discipline. These were the families of Elias, Shitta-Bey ,Issa Williams, Alli-Balogun,Benson, Ogunsanya, Animashaun Gbajabiamila, Agunbiade , Herbert Macaulay, Laguda, H.O.Davies, Da Rocha, Carena, Doherty , Vole and a host of others
"These open markets were accessible. They required modest capital. A wooden table, a woven mat, a makeshift umbrella. These were enough to begin. From these modest beginnings emerged families who educated their children into the professions. Mostly law, medicine, engineering, banking and public service. The markets were, in truth, Lagos’ first economic universities," it said.
While acknowledging the need for modernization, improved sanitation and safer infrastructure, the group expressed concern that redevelopment efforts across Lagos Island, Mainland, Badagry, Ikorodu and Epe have led to the demolition of open markets and their replacement with multi-storey complexes that charge rents and service fees beyond the reach of traditional traders.
"Over the decades, barter gave way to cowries, cowries to coin, coin to cashless transfers. Trade evolved. Structures improved. Sanitation standards rose. Regulation increased. Modernization, in itself, is not the enemy of heritage. Cities must grow. Infrastructure must improve. Safety must be ensured.
"Yet, what we increasingly witness across the five regions of Lagos State is not mere modernization but displacement.
"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 woman who once sold peppers from a stall she could afford now faces shop prices she cannot contemplate. The petty trader, the semi-literate artisan, the smallholder merchant who formed the backbone of Lagos commerce find themselves priced out of the very soil that nurtured them," said the statement.
De Renaissance Patriots Foundation argued that many of the new structures remain partially unoccupied due to high costs, while displaced traders resort to informal street trading in adjoining areas to sustain their livelihoods.
"We must ask: who are markets for? Markets are not shopping malls. They are social ecosystems. They are living organisms sustained by affordability, accessibility and proximity to the people. When redevelopment excludes the primary users, it fractures the economic chain. When modernization forgets the market woman, it forgets Lagos itself.
"The indigenes and long-time dwellers of Lagos across Island, Mainland, Badagry, Ikorodu and Epe do not resist progress. They resist erasure. They resist economic structures that elevate concrete above community and aesthetics above accessibility.
"True development should be inclusive. It should consult traders before demolition. It should provide phased redevelopment that guarantees return at affordable rates. It should incorporate open-air sections for low-capital traders. It should blend tradition with innovation, not replace one with the other.
"The history of Lagos trade teaches us a profound lesson: prosperity here was built from the ground up, not imposed from above. From barter to monetized exchange, from mats to structured stalls, growth has always been organic.
"If we sever modernization from memory, we risk building beautiful emptiness," it warned,” the statement read, stressing that development should not exclude the primary users of such spaces.
The foundation urged authorities to adopt phased redevelopment plans that guarantee traders’ return at affordable rates, incorporate open-air sections for low-capital merchants, and ensure consultations before demolition exercises.
It maintained that Lagos’ prosperity was built from grassroots commerce and called for development strategies that balance modernization with the preservation of the city’s trading heritage.
“Modernize, yes — but modernize with memory,” the statement concluded, emphasizing that the future of Lagos must reflect both progress and its historic identity as a market-driven city.
Signed:
Media Office of De Renaissance Patriots Foundation.
Sunday February 22, 2026.
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