Economy
Lagos Threatens to Shut Down Oke-Odo Market
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Traders at the popular Oko-Odo market, also known as Ile-Epo market, have been given one week to put an end to illegal activities perpetrated at the market or risk being shut down indefinitely by the Lagos State government.
This warning came yesterday when leaders of Agbado Oke-Odo Market held meeting at the Lagos House in Ikeja with the state government.
Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr Tunji Bello, who represented Governor Akinwunmi Ambode at the meeting, lamented that traders at the market were in the habit of displaying their wares on the road for sale beyond the confines of the market, thereby causing traffic gridlock and other environmental nuisance.
He said their activities had reached a level which the state government could no longer condone, hence the need for a final warning.
He said aside causing avoidable and needless traffic, the traders were also in the habit of dumping their refuse on the road, thereby causing environmental and health hazards.
“This is just to come and deliberate on the Agbado Oke-Odo Market because of the situation there. The market has become a stumbling block particularly to those using the road.
“The traders have blocked the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway to the extent that even the contractors working there don’t have place to work because they have taken over the area.
“They cause a lot of traffic gridlock and people coming from Ota or from Abule Egba don’t have the road to connect other areas of the State.
“We have warned them consistently but we are yet to get any result. That is why we have summoned today’s meeting,” Mr Bello said.
“The meeting is basically to call them to order and give them the last warning. The idea initially was to shut down the market today but the Governor decided that we should give them just one week to put things in order,” he added.
He said in as much as government was not interested in shutting down markets, but it would have no choice than to wield the big stick if traders continue constituting themselves as menace to other road users.
“What we are saying is that the government is not interested in shutting down any market because of the economic implication on the people who have to survive and live.
“As a government, we are not interested in shutting down business enterprises and all that, but if it is constituting menace and inconveniencing other people, we will have no choice than to wield the big stick, and that is why we are giving the market leaders the last warning to go and re-order their market.
“The leaders of the market must sit up and look at how to help government because we cannot say because we are trading, we should inconvenience people who go to work from Abule Egba to Lagos Island for instance and to other places and they have to spend hours on that road just because of the activities of the traders.
“Apart from that, we have a lot of filth on the road because the market people just dump their refuse on the road. We don’t want that anymore and that is why we are giving this last warning.
“We don’t want anybody on the road again and whatever we have to do internally as a government, we will not hesitate to do. We will send Task Force and the men of the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) to the place to ensure sanity.
“This warning to Agbado Oke-Odo traders also applies to other markets in the State. Any market where their traders are blocking the road and constituting menace to others will be shut down till further notice,” Mr Bello threatened.
Responding on behalf of others, the Babaloja Araromi Agbado Oke-Odo, Mr Mukaila Oyinlola, said as market leaders, they had warned the traders who were in the habit of selling on the road to desist, but their warnings had fallen on deaf ears, adding that the resolve of government was a welcome development.
Also, Iyaloja Araromi Oke-Odo Market, Mrs Dupe Shonola and Babaloja General of Agbado Oke-Odo Market, Mr Abiodun Kosoko, urged government to make examples of the perpetrators of the illegal act, but called for expansion and modernization of the market.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited has recently struggled to regain its spark due to continued selling pressure from investors reducing their exposure to equities in favour of fixed-income investment instruments.
Yesterday, the stock market further shed 0.35 per cent on the back of profit-taking in the banking sector, which closed lower by 1.83 per cent. The consumer goods space lost 0.13 per cent, and the energy counter depreciated by 0.01 per cent, while the insurance index gained 0.04 per cent, with the industrial goods segment closing flat.
Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased on Tuesday by 843.42 points to 241,611.23 points from 242,454.65 points, and the market capitalisation shrank by N545 billion to N155.973 trillion from N156.518 trillion.
Like the previous session, investor sentiment was weak after Customs Street ended with 22 price gainers and 37 price losers, indicating a negative market breadth index.
Red Star Express weakened by 10.00 per cent to N16.20, Trans-Nationwide Express crashed by 9.94 per cent to N2.81, Meyer depleted by 9.88 per cent to N15.05, Chellarams plunged by 9.77 per cent to N9.70, and Fortis Global Insurance moderated by 9.70 per cent to N2.14.
On the flip side, Haldane McCall surged by 9.97 per cent to N3.20, Veritas Kapital climbed by 7.09 per cent to N1.36, Tantalizers rose by 5.26 per cent to N4.00, RT Briscoe appreciated by 4.31 per cent to N10.90, and Regency Alliance grew by 3.66 per cent to 85 Kobo.
A look at the activity chart for the day showed the volume of transactions significantly retreated by 66.94 per cent as a result of the absence of big-ticket trades, and the number of deals dropped by 21.57 per cent, while the value of trades increased by 20.09 per cent.
Market participants traded 429.8 million stocks valued at N27.5 billion in 35,683 deals during the session compared with the 1.3 billion stocks worth N22.9 billion transacted in 45,494 deals on Monday.
Sterling Holdings led the activity chart with a turnover of 51.6 million units for N390.6 million. FCMB traded 50.0 million units worth N584.8 million, Chams sold 32.4 million units valued at N134.5 million, Veritas Kapital exchanged 180 million units for N24.3 million, and First Holdco transacted 17.0 million units worth N2.2 billion.
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
About N3.007 trillion of the N4.359 trillion revenue generated by Nigeria in July 2026 was disbursed in August 2026 to the three tiers of government by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) at its meeting held in Owerri, Imo State, on the sidelines of the National Council of the Federation and Economic Development.
A statement issued on Tuesday by the Director of Press and Public Relations in the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr Bawa Mokwa, disclosed that the gross statutory revenue jumped 17.8 per cent from N3.700 trillion in June due to improved collections from petroleum and non-oil revenue sources.
The statement noted that Petroleum Profit Tax, Hydrocarbon Tax, Companies Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax, Stamp Duty, petroleum royalties, mineral royalties, excise duty and gas-flaring penalties rose, while earnings from Value Added Tax (VAT), import duty, Common External Tariff levies, gas-flaring fee rentals and miscellaneous oil revenue declined.
“In its regular monthly business, FAAC approved the disbursement of a total of N3.007 trillion to the Federal Government, the 36 State Governments and the 774 Local Government Councils as revenue for July 2026,” a part of the statement disclosed.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Oil prices rose marginally as Iran said it would adopt a more offensive stance and the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed, while the United States ruled out extending a ceasefire.
Brent crude futures finished higher by 15 cents or 0.17 per cent at $91.02 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures chalked up 44 cents or 0.52 per cent to trade at $84.94 a barrel.
A top Iranian negotiator, Mr Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, said that Iran will keep the strait closed until the United States meets the conditions of the interim deal signed in June.
Mr Qalibaf’s comments came after a senior Iranian official earlier said that Iran will shift to a “fully offensive” military posture as efforts have stalled toward a permanent end to the war.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, who previously labelled that deal “over,” said on Tuesday that talks between the US and Iran were neither taking place nor scheduled, but the strait was open.
Iran has separately been negotiating with Oman on an agreement on managing the strait and says they are close to a deal. However, the American President threatened to bomb Oman, a longstanding US security partner.
Yemen’s Houthis launched missiles in an attack on vessels they described as a Saudi military ship and four escorts in the Red Sea while the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) separately said it received a report on Tuesday that a vessel was struck by an unknown projectile while transiting out of the strait, causing engine room damage and a crew casualty.
Amid these developments, Saudi Aramco has resumed oil loadings from inside the strait, and is offering cargoes for loading via ship-to-ship transfers off Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) while two Chinese shipping giants also have started collecting oil cargoes outside the Gulf.
Russia is reportedly rerouting Kazakhstan’s crude oil exports from the Baltic port of Ust-Luga to the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, freeing up capacity for more Russian oil exports from the Baltic amid heightened Black Sea security risks. The move would allow Russia to replace Kazakh barrels at Ust-Luga with its own crude exports, while Ukrainian drone attacks make it more difficult for Russian exporters to secure tankers for Black Sea loadings.
